Aboard Oceania Vista, So Far

It is always interesting to board a new ship and see how the lines do things differently. In this case, it is also a newly launched ship, as Vista has only been in service for a couple of months. In fact, all the stops on our itinerary will be maiden calls.

We had last been on an Oceania ship in 2017 when we spent 10 days on Riviera on the north coast of the Mediterranean, so, other than our memories of the specialty restaurants, the rest of the experience would be quite new. Vista has a passenger capacity of 1,200 people and is full for U.S. Thanksgiving. That's already about 500 more people than we've had on a ship any time in the past 2 years.

Fortunately our suite, a large aft corner Oceania Suite, was ready when we arrived at the port, and with priority boarding we were through check-in in less than 10 minutes. We dropped off our hand luggage and took a good look around our home for the next 12 days:

The aft-facing part of the verandah

and the section around the side

The shower stall with its own window - and
yes, there is a blind!

Bedroom

The dining and bar area (with Media Room behind the bar!)

and the lounge area. The chair on the left is at the desk.

The inside of this suite is a little smaller than the equivalent ones in other parts of the ship as they don't have the large outside space, but it is still plenty large enough for our needs. We didn't plan to do much touring on this trip, so having the private space is nice.

We've seen and been to most of the lounges and 'eating establishments' by this point in the cruise - now on day 7 - and have been impressed with the decor and the service in all of them. The food has also been consistently excellent, which we'll cover in another post.

Red Ginger, where we ate on the first night.
Very delicious Asian, Thai and Indonesian options

The entrance of Red Ginger

Ember, the American style restaurant

Martini's bar and lounge that turns into
the piano bar at night

The Grand Lounge, a lounge area outside of the
main dining room

Horizons, the lounge with the views overlooking 
the bow. They also serve afternoon tea here, and there
is a small stage and dance floor for the live music.

Aquamar Kitchen, where healthier options,
as well as non-alcoholic wine, beer and cocktails, are
served every day

Barista's, the coffee bar with its own
bakery there in the back. Haven't had
anything there yet, but it looks soooo good!

The Pool Deck - except that it is almost impossible
to get a seat in the shade, unless you drop a pair of shoes
or a bag at 7:00 a.m.!

The Grand Dining Room. We've only
eaten there once so far.

 Toscana, the Italian restaurant

We'll be adding more photos in another post from around the ship. On Black Friday they started putting Christmas decorations up everywhere except in the staterooms,. Not overstated, but still festive, and deserving of a picture or two.

As mentioned, we haven't spent too much time off the ship yet, as we only have two excursions booked, and they are late in the cruise. The next post will cover our ports so far, the logistics of which reminded us that, even if it is a beautiful new ship, it is still in the mass market category and things are done a little differently than we're used to.