By the Avid Cruiser

Welcome to Toscana, one of two specialty restaurants on Oceania’s ships. There’s no additional charge to dine here, although there is a limit to the number of times you can dine at Toscana on a single cruise, not always rigidly enforced, depending on which category cabin you booked.

The show begins with the bread basket, a work of art in itself, with, for those who like it, roasted garlic. Beautiful Versace dishes and plates adorn the tabletops (there are plenty of tables for two). A waiter pushing a cart comes tableside with a wide selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

The carpaccio is a good starter. But so is the Insalata Caprese. You don’t have to choose. Have both.

The risotto comes without calories, until your fork moves it from the plate to your mouth, that is. Also in the “let’s not think about calories” category, the desserts are delicious works of art.

Toscana represents dining in the best of Italian traditions.

Content provided by the Avid Cruiser

By the Avid Cruiser

In January, Oceania Cruises launched its largest, and most highly anticipated, ship ever, the 1,250-guest Marina.

Oceania’s newest ship features an array of stylish bars and lounges and 10 dining venues – six of which are open-seating, gourmet restaurants – including Jacques, the first restaurant at sea for Chef Jacques Pépin.

Other highlights include a Bon Appétit Culinary Center, Owner’s Suites furnished exclusively in Ralph Lauren Home, and a grand stairway custom-crafted by renowned French glass master, Lalique.

Pillars of Distinction

Marina also introduced the following new Pillars of Distinction amenities (Pillars of Distinction amenities also were introduced aboard Regatta, Insignia and Nautica in the spring of 2011):

Cuisine

• An expanded menu of “Jacques Pépin Signature Items” in the Grand Dining Rooms, which include Cotes d’Agneau Grillees – grilled lamb chop served with ratatouille and lamb gravy with thyme, and Gambas Sauté Provençal – sautéed shrimp in olive oil from Nice with garlic, parsley and tomatoes
• Evening menus in the Terrace Café will focus on regional specialties from the area the ship is sailing in addition to each evening’s ever-changing range of traditional favorites
• Gourmet VIP canapé service for all suite guests now includes a wider array of specialty, gourmand-inspired delicacies which are presented on new, custom designed china
• Espresso and Cappuccino from the famed Illy Coffee of Italy

Service

• Free shuttle service in more than 90 ports worldwide where the ship is docked away from the city center
• Introduction of production shows created by the legendary Gary J. Musick company that feature a full ensemble, original choreography, lavish costuming and rousing musical numbers
• Dramatically faster internet speeds as a result of new partnership with MTN
• Complimentary in-suite newspaper delivery for Owner’s, Vista and Oceania suites

Comfort

• Upgraded bath amenities and toiletries in all accommodations, including Bulgari for Concierge-level and suite guests
• Laptops, currently featured in all Owner’s and Vista suites on Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, will be added to all Penthouse Suites
• iPads for all Owner’s, Vista and Oceania suite

Health & Wellness Aboard Marina

Canyon Ranch SpaClub

Marina features a 10,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub, offering nearly 50 treatments and therapies, each customized to guests’ needs.

Fitness Center With State-Of-The-Art Equipment

Marina’s fitness center features a full circuit of Technogym strength-training machines and a Kinesis Wall, an innovative system offering a free range of natural movement to improve balance, flexibility and strength. Technogym equipment equipped with heart-rate monitoring and individual LCD-TV screens is also featured in the cardiovascular area.

Canyon Ranch Fitness Experts

When guests are not training on their own, they can utilize Canyon Ranch fitness experts who lead daily group and private fitness sessions and provide assessment for basic fitness and nutrition counseling.

Specialized wellness services include Yamuna Foot Fitness class offering simple techniques that improve the alignment and flexibility of hard-working feet. The SpaClub’s Performance Orthotics Assessment is a computerized assessment of the way a person walks following by a fitting of custom-designed orthotics.

Water Therapy

A Thermal Suite and adjacent thalassotherapy pool are designed to bring balance and restoration to the mind and body. The Thermal Suite is comprised of an aromatic steam room, Finnish sauna and Experiential Rain experience, which features invigorating, multi-sensory cooling showers with three variations of water pressures and temperatures.

Incorporating elements such as airbed recliner lounges, neck fountains, deluge waterfall, air tub and body massage jet benches, the thalassotherapy pool combines the therapeutic benefits of salt water and massage allowing guests to unwind and feel the power of flowing water unknotting tired muscles. The thalassotherapy pool is located on a private sundeck.

Canyon Ranch Spa Cuisine

Canyon Ranch chefs also worked with Oceania Cruises’ award-winning culinary team to create Spa Cuisine selections for the Grand Dining Room and Terrace Café that are both nutritious and created with the highest gourmet standards.

A Christening With Hart

“Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart served as the godmother of Marina. Hart named the ship in Miami at a lavish, invitation-only christening ceremony February 5, which culminated with a 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar of champagne, custom-made by Armand de Brignac, commemoratively crashing against the hull.

Marina’s Itineraries

Marina set sail February 8 on the first of two 18-day Panama Canal transits that visited San Francisco and San Diego, both new ports for Oceania Cruises. Marina also operated a 12-day Caribbean cruise, round-trip from Miami, before sailing along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and on to Europe to begin her inaugural Mediterranean season.

Content provided by the Avid Cruiser

By the Avid Cruiser

Over dinner in Regatta’s main dining room, an impeccably dressed man at the end of the table says, “I gain ten pounds every contract, and lose eight when I go home.”

Meet Bruno Haag, the knowledgeable and affable concierge on Oceania’s Regatta. He has an adult lifetime of experience at sea: seven years with venerable Royal Viking Line, three years with Silversea, and six years and counting at Oceania, where it appears he has found a permanent home. (Swiss-born, Bruno’s terra-firma home is in Australia.)

Bruno serves as the front-line for passengers, with one of his biggest challenges being lost luggage. The airline is to blame, of course, but Bruno pulls together all of his resources to locate the luggage and get it on board. He also makes sight-seeing recommendations for guests who aren’t booked on tours, and reservations at restaurants ashore, using his satellite phone to conduct the transaction on the spot — at no charge.

The Oceania product is continually evolving, Bruno says. “We are a young cruise line, and there’s always room for improvement,” he adds. “We listen to our guests and make decisions based on their feedback.”

Just a few of his favorite features on Oceania:

• Open-seating dining, “very much appreciated by those who have cruised Crystal,” he says, where there are two assigned seatings.
• Two specialty restaurants, where guests may dine at no extra charge
• The inclusion, also at no extra charge of specialty coffees, milk shakes, soft drinks and bottled water.
• A welcome bottle of champagne in the Concierge and Penthouse categories as well as suites. Also for those categories, upgraded Hermes amenities, priority embarkation at 11 a.m. at no extra charge (normal embarkation is at 1 p.m.), priority tender service and priority luggage delivery upon embarkation.
• Outdoor dining at the Terrace Cafe.

Also, Oceania’s price-to-value is “unbeatable,” he adds, “and the itineraries are wonderful.” And so is the cuisine – at a net gain for Bruno of about two pounds per contract, or so he says.

Content provided by the Avid Cruiser

By the Avid Cruiser

Oceania Cruises Marina: A Personal Work Of Art

On Oceania Cruises’ new Marina an unusual scene plays out. Bob Binder, the company’s president, and Frank del Rio, the founder of Oceania Cruises, are performing a job normally reserved for the ship’s carpenters. Dressed in custom-tailored suits, del Rio and Binder heft heavy pieces of framed art, arranging and rearranging, moving one frame of art from a wall in the hallway into a space they’ve chosen in the main restaurant.

Carpenters stand by ready to help, but clearly the cruise executives are in charge. After all, Binder and del Rio chose every piece of art on Marina, and that in itself is telling. Seldom, if ever, will you find executives with such a strong and, literally hands-on, approach. When I remind del Rio that I had seen him a few years earlier measuring spaces on Regatta for art pieces, he replied, “Yeah, we do that all the time,” and then jokes as he is helping Binder place a piece of art on the wall: “They just don’t trust us with a hammer.”

Marina debuted with a big splash in February 2011. The naming ceremony represented a victory for Frank del Rio. In less than a decade, del Rio and his team have built a highly successful cruise line in the upper-premium segment, positioned between premium cruise lines like Holland America, Celebrity and Princess and luxury lines like Silversea, Seabourn and Regent.

As the first ship ever built for the Oceania brand, Marina could be defined as a game-changer. The new ship, however, is something much more than that. Oceania’s Marina is a league-changer, furthering blurring the lines between upper-premium and luxury.

Meet Marina

Like her older fleetmates, Oceania Cruises 1,250-passenger, 66,084-ton Marina offers a calm, adult cruise experience, with none of the flashy theme-park attractions you increasingly find on the big mainstream ships, and no concessions made to kids at all (literally: she offers no children’s center or children’s programming whatsoever).

From stem to stern, Marina’s vibe is upscale, mature, and unhurried. Activities and announcements are few, and guests are mostly left alone to do what they like. She is what Oceania has always been: a midpoint — experientially and price-wise, Marina’s also very roomy, with one of the most generous passenger-space ratios in the business — higher than on any mainstream or premium ship.

Inside, Marina goes for a classic look: part club, part cruise ship, part upscale home. Even the ship’s most consciously showy space, the two-story atrium, is done with a kind of jewel-box sensibility: Its centerpiece double-stairway was created by French crystal and glassware designer company Lalique, which embellished it with a crystal chandelier, pillars, medallions and a central flower vase.

Public Rooms on Oceania Marina

Public rooms tend to be understated and comfortable, and the ship is designed with a number of little nooks perfect for hiding out and reading. The lovely library, tucked away on a top deck behind the Barista’s coffee bar, is designed like a classic home library, with wooden bookcases, a faux fireplace, leather club chairs, and elaborate ship models.

Martini’s, a piano lounge and cocktail bar carried over from the earlier Oceania ships, is laid out with widely spaced cocktail tables, chair and sofas perfect for quiet conversation.

Step Into Oceania Marina’s Staterooms

Marina’s staterooms all have a real sense of space too, and are designed with traditional wood wall panels and desks, comfortable sitting areas, spacious and elegant marble bathrooms, and (in all but a handful of cabins) balconies.

Each room is centered around a super-comfortable “Prestige Tranquility Bed,” whose pillow-top mattress is wrapped in 1,000-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens and topped with a plush down comforter. The only downsides to the standard staterooms are that closet space could be a little more generous (though there’s plenty of extra storage under the bed), and that the ceiling height in the shower is too low for really tall people, of whom I’m one. I joked that I was clean from the nose down, although with a slight tilt of the head, I could get all 6’5″ of me under the showered.

The ship’s Owners Suites take a detour from the “classic” look, and instead go for a “yacht meets 1930s safari movie” feel. Spreading out across the whole 105-foot beam of Decks 8, 9, and 10, they’re designed with furniture, fabrics, and bedding from the Ralph Lauren Home collection, and include showy touches like Art Deco furniture, zebra-print upholstery, 1930s and 40s glamour photos, a full bar, baby-grand piano, and chrome Kleig lights on wooden tripods. In all, the suites include a dramatic entry foyer and sitting room, a separate bedroom, a large living room, a private fitness room, an enormous balcony with Jacuzzi tub, and a marble-and-granite bathroom with another Jacuzzi.

Less showy and less spacious but more sleekly stylish are the ship’s Oceania and Vista Suites, designed by American furniture icon Dakota Jackson, who also designed the exterior of the custom Steinway baby-grand in Martini’s.

Oceania Marina Stateroom Specifics

In addition to the standard stateroom amenities, suite guests enjoy the added luxury of Champagne upon arrival, 1,000-thread-count linens, 42” plasma TV, Hermès and Clarins bath amenities, butler service, and en-suite delivery from any of the ship’s restaurants.

Other stateroom amenities include a flat-panel TV, lap-top computer with wireless access, refrigerated mini bar, security safe, writing desk, plush terry robes, bed slippers, and marble and granite bathroom.

Rich woods, marble and granite, fine wool carpets and lustrous leathers adorn public rooms. Facilities include 10 dining venues – six of which are open-seating gourmet restaurants, an array of bars and lounges, a full-service Canyon Ranch SpaClub and fitness center, swimming pool and hot tubs.

Dining on Marina

Marina shines when it comes to her restaurants, of which five, plus a buffet restaurant, number of casual snack spots.

Specialty restaurants require reservations but come with no additional charge — a nice perk that differentiates Marina from the mainstream and premium lines, all of which tack on an extra fee for their best dining options.

The most high-profile of the specialty restaurants is Jacques, the first restaurant ever created, on land or sea, by celebrity chef Jacques Pepin. Designed with the feel of a French country bistro, the restaurant focuses on traditional French country cuisine. Decor offers a light, airy atmosphere with traditional oak floors, antiqued furniture, and paintings by the chef himself.

Other specialty restaurants include the Mediterranean Toscana and the Polo Grill steakhouse (both carry-overs from the line’s earlier ships) and Red Ginger, an excellent pan-Asian spot with a hip urban design.

There’s also the main Grand Dining Room, designed with a classic Hollywood grandeur and operating on an open-seating basis — just drop in whenever you get hungry during its open hours.

For folks who like to cook their own meals, Marina offers the only hands-on teaching kitchen in the cruise business, created in collaboration with Bon Appétit magazine and outfitted with 12 cooking stations (each with burners, a cutting board, and sink). Classes accommodate 24 guests (two at each station), cost $49 per person, and cover topics like modern Greek cuisine, Southwestern cuisine, American classics, homemade pasta and more.

Other activities and entertainments on board are low-key, tending toward casual art classes at the Artist Loft, enrichment lectures by visiting experts, the occasional Ping-Pong tournament, and just lounging around the restful pool deck.

Guests can also get treatments at the beautiful Canyon Ranch SpaClub, a 10,000-square-foot facility that offers a variety of Asian therapies, various massages and facials, a Thermal Suite with specialized saunas and steam rooms, a thalassotherapy pool, a private sundeck, a salon, and a small gym where guests can take group or private fitness classes, or exercise on their own.

At night, there’s dancing at Horizons nightclub, a pianist at Martinis, gambling in the casino, and a string quartet in the atrium, plus magicians, comedians, and other guest entertainers at the main Marina Lounge — all low-key and classy, the way Oceania’s passengers like it.

Oceania will introduce a sister ship early next year. Riviera will have only a few tweaks. Says del Rio: “It’s hard to improve on perfection.”

Content provided by the Avid Cruiser

By the Avid Cruiser

In January, Oceania Cruises launched its largest, and most highly anticipated, ship ever, the 1,250-guest Marina.

Oceania’s newest ship features an array of stylish bars and lounges and 10 dining venues – six of which are open-seating, gourmet restaurants – including Jacques, the first restaurant at sea for Chef Jacques Pepin.

Other highlights include a Bon Appetit Culinary Center, Owner’s Suites furnished exclusively in Ralph Lauren Home, and a grand stairway custom-crafted by renowned French glass master, Lalique.

Pillars of Distinction

Marina will also introduce the following new Pillars of Distinction amenities (Pillars of Distinction amenities also will be introduced aboard Regatta, Insignia and Nautica in the spring of 2011):

Cuisine

• An expanded menu of “Jacques Pepin Signature Items” in the Grand Dining Rooms, which include Cotes d’Agneau Grillees – grilled lamb chop served with ratatouille and lamb gravy with thyme, and Gambas Saute Provencal – sauteed shrimp in olive oil from Nice with garlic, parsley and tomatoes
• Evening menus in the Terrace Cafe will focus on regional specialties from the area the ship is sailing in addition to each evening’s ever-changing range of traditional favorites
• Gourmet VIP canape service for all suite guests now includes a wider array of specialty, gourmand-inspired delicacies which are presented on new, custom designed china
• Espresso and Cappuccino from the famed Illy Coffee of Italy

Service

• Free shuttle service in more than 90 ports worldwide where the ship is docked away from the city center
• Introduction of production shows created by the legendary Gary J. Musick company that feature a full ensemble, original choreography, lavish costuming and rousing musical numbers
• Dramatically faster internet speeds as a result of new partnership with MTN
• Complimentary in-suite newspaper delivery for Owner’s, Vista and Oceania suites

Comfort

• Upgraded bath amenities and toiletries in all accommodations, including Bulgari for Concierge-level and suite guests
• Laptops, currently featured in all Owner’s and Vista suites on Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, will be added to all Penthouse Suites
• iPads for all Owner’s, Vista and Oceania suites

Health & Wellness Aboard Marina

Canyon Ranch SpaClub

Marina will feature a 10,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub, offering nearly 50 treatments and therapies, each customized to guests’ needs.

Fitness Center With State-Of-The-Art Equipment

Marina’s fitness center will feature a full circuit of Technogym strength-training machines and a Kinesis Wall, an innovative system offering a free range of natural movement to improve balance, flexibility and strength. Technogym equipment equipped with heart-rate monitoring and individual LCD-TV screens will also be featured in the cardiovascular area.

Canyon Ranch Fitness Experts

When guests are not training on their own, they can utilize Canyon Ranch fitness experts who will lead daily group and private fitness sessions and provide assessment for basic fitness and nutrition counseling.

Specialized wellness services include Yamuna Foot Fitness class offering simple techniques that improve the alignment and flexibility of hard-working feet. The SpaClub’s Performance Orthotics Assessment is a computerized assessment of the way a person walks following by a fitting of custom-designed orthotics.

Water Therapy

A Thermal Suite and adjacent thalassotherapy pool are designed to bring balance and restoration to the mind and body. The Thermal Suite is comprised of an aromatic steam room, Finnish sauna and Experiential Rain experience, which features invigorating, multi-sensory cooling showers with three variations of water pressures and temperatures.

Incorporating elements such as airbed recliner lounges, neck fountains, deluge waterfall, air tub and body massage jet benches, the thalassotherapy pool combines the therapeutic benefits of salt water and massage allowing guests to unwind and feel the power of flowing water unknotting tired muscles. The thalassotherapy pool is located on a private sundeck.

Canyon Ranch Spa Cuisine

Canyon Ranch chefs also worked with Oceania Cruises’ award-winning culinary team to create Spa Cuisine selections for the Grand Dining Room and Terrace Café that are both nutritious and created with the highest gourmet standards.

A Christening With Hart

“Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart will serve as the godmother of Marina. Hart will name the ship in Miami at a lavish, invitation-only christening ceremony February 5, which will culminate with a 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar of champagne, custom-made by Armand de Brignac, commemoratively crashing against the hull.

Marina’s Itineraries

Marina set sail February 8 on the first of two 18-day Panama Canal transits that visited San Francisco and San Diego, both new ports for Oceania Cruises. Marina then operated a 12-day Caribbean cruise, round-trip from Miami, departing March 16, before sailing along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and on to Europe to begin her inaugural Mediterranean season.

Content provided by the Avid Cruiser