Christmas Cruise 2019

We decided to try something new, instead of using Viking, our old standard, we tried Oceania, a similar small ship. There definitely are pluses and minuses but in the end, we decided that we’d stick with Viking unless Oceania offers us a deal too good to pass up! I liked the ‘warmth’ of Oceania’s decor vs the Ikea Scandinavian decor of Viking. The ship we were on, Sirena, was recently refurbished after being bought from Princess Cruise Line. With only 630 passengers max, there was plenty of opportunity to meet fellow passengers and rarely a line at any food operations. Our cabin was typical in size and style. We opted for a bow-facing cabin, which we will most likely never do again as it hit the waves rather violently, but the view was nice. But that same view you can get on your cabin TV. Mid-ship is the way to go for a smoother ride. We brought along a little decoration for the cabin and enjoyed having it lit when we were in the cabin. It brought a smile to our face and to our cabin steward and room service personnel. We started the cruise with a complimentary champagne toast. And then we were off!

As I mentioned, there were pluses and minuses to Oceania. Our first minus was the bed configuration. It seems no matter what our profile states, we get a single bed, instead of two beds. I love my daughter, but do not wish to share a bed with her. And as you can see by the picture, even two beds are one bed with no space between! On most ships there is a nightstand placed between the beds to give each occupant a little personal sleeping space. On Viking there is complimentary beer, wine and soda with lunch and dinner. On Oceania, only the soda is complimentary. Karen had to pay for wine, and the glass of wine was rather expensive and a low pour. The food, especially the pastries were much better on Oceania. Viking needs to kidnap their pastry chef! Another difference is the airfare and transfers. With Viking if you purchase air, the transfers from airport to pier are included. Not so much with Oceania unless you have a pre or post hotel stay. For this trip, they wanted $89 per person, one way! Our Uber cost a fraction of that price! So, that extra cost needs to be factored in. The excursions on Oceania are rather costly and uninteresting. Why wouldn’t they have an excursion to Muir Woods while in San Francisco? We booked privately with GrayLine. With Viking, each port of call has a complimentary included excursion. Yours to take or not. The bathroom on Viking is twice the size of Oceania’s overall and in the shower and it has a heated floor! Depending on the type of cabin booked, Viking has a complimentary beer and soda mini bar with snacks. Something unique with Oceania is that even at the buffet, you are served. And the table area does not look like a cafeteria, like on Viking. Even at dinner time, the tables on Oceania had a tablecloth. We noticed an extremely ‘relaxed’ service in the Main Dining Room. It would take over 2 hours for dinner, with long waits in between courses.While there are times when Viking’s Dining Room service seems a bit rushed, at least I’ve never had to send my meat back for a re-fire! Tea time was also different on Oceania. A trolley was pushed around and you were served from various plates of sweet and savory bites. Best to get what you want the first time as they make the rounds of all the tables. On Viking, you are provided with a 3-tiered tray of bites. I wish the string quartet had played Christmas songs during tea. Going back to the pastry chefs on Oceania, their gingerbread display beats the pictures I’ve seen of Viking’s gingerbread display, hands down.

A couple of our ports of call involved tender (use of lifeboats for transportation) operations. In other words, we did not dock at a pier, but rather dropped anchor out in the water. Some tender trips were about 20 minutes each way. Once again, much appreciated assistance was provided by crew to step on and off the steady ship onto the bobbing tender. It can be done! We noticed a walker on the tender a couple of different times. So, if they can do it, so can you!

Our first port in Santa Barbara, we opted to take the ship’s tour to Solvang. The only reason we did this was because we didn’t want to miss the ship departing as our time in port was so limited and Solvang was a little distance away. We enjoyed Solvang, which is a quaint Danish-inspired village with shops, windmills and Christmas decorations. Back on the ship, we enjoyed our first specialty dining experience at Tuscan Steak. Unfortunately, the ocean was rough that night with 12 foot swells and we both ‘lost’ our delicious steak dinner. Through the courtesy of fellow passengers, Pat and George, we were able to enjoy a second trip to Tuscan Steak and managed to keep that meal down. Thankfully.

Our second port of call was San Francisco, where we arrived later than expected. That late arrival on top of a very bumpy night left us feeling rather drained. But, we had a tour bus to Muir Woods to catch. Which we missed ultimately. But with an unplanned Uber to Muir Woods, we caught up with our tour in the parking lot. I’ve wanted to see the redwoods for a long time, and was glad to see them finally, even though I really didn’t feel all that ‘normal’ yet. I was weak and my wonderful daughter, Karen, spotted wheelchairs and offered to push me along the paths. Bumpy ride on an empty stomach but much appreciated as Karen was not feeling 100% either . WOW! the tallest tree is 276 feet tall!!! We both made it back to the waiting bus for the ride to Sausalito. Originally we had planned to take the ferry back to San Francisco, but felt that we needed more land time instead of sea time. Of all the cruises we’ve been on, this is the first one to affect both of us so violently with mal de mer (seasickness).

Our third port of call was Monterey. Feeling better, we rented a red hot roadster (blinged out golf cart) and took a spin around to see the sights. We enjoyed the Old Fisherman’s Wharf as it was totally decorated for Christmas. After our roadster trip, we searched out a restaurant where Karen could get a chowder bread bowl and I could find something (yes, I’m a picky eater!).

Our fourth day was a Sea Day, which means staying on board, eating and napping and checking out the ship’s decorations.

Our fifth day port was Catalina Island. We rented a golf cart and toured the island. We saw Wrigley Mansion on top of the hill, heard the chimes from the tower, enjoyed a beer and snack looking out over the bay and did a little shopping. Shopping for us is always to find postcards, which is Karen’s souvenir as she writes about our day and mails them home for us to find in our mailbox when we return. We also look for locally made Christmas ornaments to add to our travel tree.

Our next port of call was Ensenada, Mexico. I always wanted to go there, but after walking around there, not sure why. We took an independent shuttle bus ($4 RT/pp) from the pier to ‘downtown’ as by now not only my hips but also my knees were screaming. I blame the knees on the heavy chairs that I needed to push back and the rocking of the boat. The hips were supposed to be taken care of with the two injections I received prior to the cruise. I don’t quite understand why Oceania failed to advise us about this shuttle, as downtown was about 2 miles away from the pier. There was no mention of it in the daily Currents publication nor in the morning announcements. The shuttle was a step saver for sure! Best suggestion: Use the back stairs as they are easier to ascend.

Back to LA for disembarkation and Uber to LAX to DCA and home. Always nice to come home, it means better grade of TP, my own pillow and bed. The downside is that I can’t bring a housekeeper or chef/cook with me.

As a last note, the Beers of the World post has been updated, courtesy of Karen!

Life is short and the world is wide,
the sooner you start exploring it, the better.
– Simon Raven