Small Ship Cruise Talk

Oceania Regatta Cruise to Alaska with CruiseTipsTV

• Dan and Mikkel Woodruff • Episode 45

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CruiseTipsTV’s Sheri Griffiths joins Mikkel for a full recap of Oceania Regatta’s 12-night “Gold Rush Trails” sailing from Los Angeles to Vancouver—with standout Pacific Coast stops, early-season Alaska weather, and a small-ship experience that surprised Sheri and her family in the best ways.

We are breaking down the itinerary (San Francisco, Astoria, Sitka, Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Ketchikan), and discussing Sheri’s most memorable excursions—including a Sitka WaveRunner tour that turned into a truly special experience. You’ll also hear what Concierge Level Veranda really gets you, how Oceania’s dining compares to mass-market cruising, what entertainment to expect on the 670-passenger ship, and why the onboard library is a must-visit.

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Dan:

Welcome to Small Chip Cruise Talk, a show where we share insider tips and firsthand experiences about this outstanding, yet lesser-known form of travel. We are passionate about sharing our knowledge about river cruises, expedition, yacht, and barge cruises, so you are informed when it comes to choosing your own vacation experiences. We're your co-host, Dana Mikkel, and we are your cruise experts and the co-founders of Sometime Sailing, a website that focuses on small ship cruising.

Mikkel:

Welcome back to another episode of Small Ship Cruise Talk. I'm here solo, so you hear my voice, Mikkel Dan cannot make it today, but the great news is that we have an amazing guest, our friend and fellow cruise expert, Sheri Griffiths. She is from Cruise Tips TV. So welcome, Sheri. Aw, thank you so much. You have been doing this for years, and you've always inspired us, and you've always been such a friendly face whenever we see you on conference days and cruises and all that stuff. So, anyway, welcome, Sheri.

Sheri:

I remember the first time I met you guys at the Sea Trade Cruise Global Conference, and I was like knees shaking, so nervous, didn't know what to expect, and you totally took me under your wing. And that's how I always think of you guys is like my C trade mentors and always have fun with you too. I'm sad that Dan couldn't be with us today. He couldn't be with us.

Mikkel:

Couldn't be with us, just the girls.

Sheri:

Couldn't be with us, just the girls.

Mikkel:

We are gonna discuss Oceania and a 12-day itinerary in Alaska. We'll get into that and where you started and ended. And we are gonna intersect that with some information about the ship that you were on and the size of that ship, and of course, get into details like the concierge class you were in and what perks and amenities that gave you. And additionally, the dining, the beverages and such, and also the entertainment. Yeah, it'll be fun.

Sheri:

I'm excited to talk about Oceania.

Mikkel:

I'm excited too, because we've never been on Oceania, but tell everybody listening or watching on YouTube your experience and what you love and your expertise in cruising.

Sheri:

Yeah, totally. I'll give you a little background. So I went on my first cruise as a high school graduation present. My mom took me and my little brother, who is four and a half years younger than me, on a carnival cruise, and we were like, you know, in one of the rooms with the bunk beds and everything, and I had the time of my life. So fun. I I couldn't believe you could be spoiled and have like three course meals. My mom was a wonderful cook and we were we were living a good life, but cruising took it to this totally different level. And I fell in love with cruising, but didn't actually go back on another cruise for a very long time after that. Uh, married my husband. We were in like that two, you know, two income working phase of life, and we were just kind of going through the motions and and working and working, and we decided to take this vacation to Paris one Christmas, and we were so excited about this vacation that we had saved for forever. But it turned out that it was absolutely freezing, and I got my ATM card stuck in an ATM machine, and I told my husband, I was like, dude, I'm so over it. I'm gotta I gotta get you on a cruise because that this is not relaxing. And so we saved money, and that began our story. We went on a cruise uh probably about a year later, and we never looked back. Of course, we've done other kinds of vacations, but we um we got the idea to do cruise content when YouTube was actually very young. Hadn't been around for a whole very long at all. It was back in 2012, it was like my 40th birthday, and my husband said we were all just sitting around the dinner table with our five-year-old little boy, who feels like he was a baby then, and he's like, you know, we should really post some cruise information that we know about on YouTube. And I was like, What's YouTube? I didn't even know what it was. So we made this god-awful packing video, and things grew from there. And over the years, we grew our audience, and we really there really were very few other cruise content creators. We would have never even known what th those words meant back then. So we kind of tried everything from ship tours, which we tried to make extremely high quality, almost cinematic in a way, to eventually vlogging, which we loved, but it was exhausting because you're filming every day. And I think now we've sort of circled back to our roots and we're more education, packing, and inspiration videos for people. And I've been on probably over 50 cruises, not a huge amount, not like some people are like, I've been on a hundred and seventy-two. I haven't been on that many, but we're still exploring and learning and checking out different cruise lines.

Mikkel:

You've been on plenty of cruises, and I have to admit, we're not like uh big numbers people. I can't tell you how many states I've been to. I don't know. I can't tell you how many countries I've been to. We don't count. The only reason I have an approximate guesstimate of how many cruises we've been on at any time is because we were asked so often. We were like, I guess we should sit here and make a list, right? You're nodding your head so yeah. People want to know how many cruises, and I'm like, you know, people could go on a two-day cruise, they could go on a 14-day cruise. Are they all created equally? Maybe not. You know, every cruise is different. They say there's a cruise for everyone because they're so different. So you do a lot of content, and she's being modest, you have an amazing following. It's you, it's Mr. Cruise Tips TV and Junior, your husband and your son, who's now 17. Yes, thank you. And people really look to you for your expertise and those tips, like you're saying, and you do incredible content. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So today we were talking about Oceania, a cruise line we haven't been on, so I'm so interested to get your thoughts. And I didn't remember, but you reminded me it's actually a subsidiary of Norwegian cruise line holdings.

Sheri:

That's right. So they are sort of the middle of the tier there with Norwegian cruise line holdings, right? So you have Norwegian, which is the mass market, Oceania, which is considered premium/slash ultra premium, and then Regent Seven C's, which is basically ultra luxury within that family. But they all do operate totally independently. And when you're on Oceania, there will be very few signs that you're part of the holding company. It's it's a really different experience.

Mikkel:

Okay, so let's get right into it with Oceania. So give us a little information about the itinerary and where you went, and also the decision to try this sort of experience out, having had most of your cruising experience in big ships.

Sheri:

Right, exactly. Well, we really liked the idea of this particular cruise, which was called the Gold Rush Trails, because it started in Los Angeles and ended in Vancouver. So you're covering a lot of territory. And this was a 12-night cruise. So we felt like we were getting a little bit more time to truly experience Oceania for the first time. And you know, if you're spending 12 days on a ship, you're gonna have time doing all of the wonderful things in port, and you're also gonna be able to fully experience the ship and the food. So we chose the Gold Rush Trails itinerary, started off in LA. This cruise started on May 1st. So it was actually it's actually really early season for Alaska and still quite cool and chilly along the Pacific coast, making our way up. And it wasn't really until the end of the cruise that it started to warm up a little bit more. There's such a big difference between like late April and early May and then late May in Alaska. I think late May is where things really turn and get warmer, but it was all part of the adventure. So we got started in LA and had a sea day and then stopped off in San Francisco, which was beautiful. And um that day we just walked around and enjoyed kind of the waterfront. It's a very easy thing to do in San Francisco, but one thing I would tell people who are potentially visiting San Francisco on a ship is that the sail away under that Golden Gate Bridge is absolutely spectacular. It's a very dramatic sail out. Typically the fog is rolling in around the same time that you're leaving the port. And it's something that even if it's really cold, you want to bundle up and get out on deck because it goes really fast. You you move out of the port area and out into the main ocean uh channel, which is can be quite rocky, and the weather turns really fast. So you want to be out there right when that ship pulls away and enjoy seeing the bay.

Mikkel:

That's a good tip. Because I think when people think of San Francisco, they automatically think California, and they're not thinking California pretty much runs the coast of the western United States. Yeah. So good tip about bundling up.

Sheri:

That's a really good point. You're right, because if you're pulling away from Long Beach or San Pedro or even San Diego, you kind of have a cityscape. You know, it's okay, but San Francisco, because it's on a hill, it's on so many hills, right? It's a very hilly environment, and there's little islands around, including Alcatraz, which is cool. There's just a lot more drama, I think, with the natural environment there, which makes it special. It's our favorite part. We made our way after San Francisco up to Astoria, Oregon. Just kind of unusual to stop on a cruise. And that was another um big attraction for this cruise for us. We're like, oh, we've never stopped in Astoria. And um we chose the coolest excursion. I have to tell you about this because I've seen it offered through other cruise companies too. It's probably one of the most common things to do in Astoria. But we took a tour called Shot in Astoria, and they take you to different Hollywood film sites. Oh, that's cool. It is so cool. So so many things were filmed there. You had scenes from kindergarten cop. Oh, wow. Yeah, and Free Willy. Free Willy was filmed there. You know how the in Free Willy they have like the the mock scene of the whale like jumping over the jetty? They s they staged it there. The whale didn't really do that, spoiler alert. But the most famous one that has a big part in the tour is Goonies.

Mikkel:

Oh, yeah. Which and I saw that I saw you post this. I think in your article, which we'll also link in the show notes about the Goonies, yeah.

Sheri:

Yeah, that was epic. So it was really neat just to kind of cruise around and check out all the sites and um enjoy some of the parks. And, you know, of course, they narrate everything and tell you all about what you're seeing. This this is what happened in Short Circuit in this corner, and that house up there is from Short Circuit. Goonies. I know Short Circuit is crazy, right? Yeah, and there's museums and gardens, and it's a beautiful place to just walk around.

Mikkel:

So yeah, that is cool.

Sheri:

Ah, it's kind of our first new one, and then we jumped to Sitka, which is absolutely one of my favorite places in Alaska, and again, not quite as common to hit, but on that one, we really pushed outside of our comfort zone with our excursion, and we actually took a wave runner tour.

Mikkel:

Ooh, and it was cold.

Sheri:

It was cold. So we were on wave runners preparing to go through the Sitka Sound, okay, which I had no idea there was volcanic activity in that area, too, which makes it even more fascinating. But they, oh man, Mikkel, they geared us up in what you would imagine people go like snorkeling or scuba diving in Alaska, and we had full dry suits, had something going over our heads. And you get and you're still, when you get on those wave runners, you still feel the chill, but it was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done. It was very emotional. I remember being at a point on the Wave Runners and just looking at my family and thinking about the majesty of where we were. The tears were just rolling down my face. Oh my god. Because it was once in a lifetime. First of all, I can't believe I had the courage to do something like this because it's it's a little bit gnarly. It's cold and you're going at pretty high speeds, but there's no one around you. For miles, you're seeing these beautiful rocky cliffs, and they're stopping now and then to tell you about the history of the area, and there's like this silence that comes over you, and also just this awareness of how big Alaska is. So I think that was probably one of the most memorable things that we've ever done on a cruise. And I would highly recommend if you have a wave runner, if that if it's available for you, it's a little pricey, but yeah. I mean, if we're gonna dog sled a helicopter, you know what?

Mikkel:

The wave running is more appealing to me than the helicopter. I mean, says somebody who's done the helicopter and dog sledding. Yeah. Which was nice, but the appeal uh and also Dan and I were on Sitka for a few days by land and we boarded an Alaskan dream cruise from there. So we know the magic of Sitka from the land aspect and those special experiences. And I think kind of one of the drawbacks of cruising, which is just the nature of the beast, is that you're not in the area for that long. So most people, especially if they're on a big ship, don't venture out to those smaller, more intimate options. So I love was this through Oceania that you booked the Wave Runner? Yes. Okay. So it was uh yeah, and like you said, it was kind of in the beginning of the season, so it's colder. So I'm sure people shied away from it because of that. So how many people were on this and kind of what was amazing?

Speaker 3:

Amazing.

Sheri:

And I think it I I think it had probably to do with the weather. And I think with these, with these more ultra premium lines, too, your demographic is skewing a little bit older. And this was not a comfortable day in Zitka, right? Like you had to put yourself out there and say, okay, I'm gonna get cold today. And I think probably a lot of people who are on a cruise like this are thinking, no way, man, I wanna I'm gonna stay warm and toasty within reason. But it probably was a little less appealing because of the weather, too, like you said.

Mikkel:

And just to pause from the rest of your itinerary, maybe we're a third of the way through. What was the ship you were on? And do you know approximately how many guests, just to give people an idea of like what big versus small is and that aspect of it?

Sheri:

Yeah, totally. So we were on Regatta, Oceania Regatta, and that ship was actually built in 1998 and was originally owned by Renaissance. You might remember there was a bunch of ships that were sailing, the R1, the R2, all of those. This is one of those ships, and it holds about 670 guests, and here's where it gets good. There's 400 crew. So you think about that guest to staff ratio, that is pretty generous. I mean, I know there's some out there where it's like one to one, but you definitely felt the guest to staff ratio on this one, and it's a smaller vessel. I I I forgot exactly what it was, but I'm thinking it might be 30,000 gross tons or something along those lines. It's a small ship. Yeah, and of course, some of their newer vessels are much bigger. They have more like 1,200 people, so they're really about double the size. Allura, their newest ship, I believe holds closer to 1,400 guests. So some of the older ones around the 600 and change, and then the newer 1200 and up, which that's probably a totally different experience than the tiny R class ships.

Mikkel:

That's a good point. Good point. It previously in its past life had a different cruise line purpose. But did you feel the age of the ship, or you felt like they had dry docked it and redone it and it was pretty up to current standards?

Sheri:

So they during a recent dry dock did a very thorough renovation, even down to uh the cabin. So so floor to ceiling. So the cabins feel ultra modern, bright. The finishes are both luxurious but also really modern. So no f old fuddy duddy British feeling decor. Not that that's there's anything wrong with that, but it it's more contemporary than you would expect. Yeah, yeah. A around the ship, it was kind of mixed because they left some of the classic elements. There's a few staircases that have that sort of mahogany wood that feel old and that they probably left intact, as well as the library, but then all of the finishes, the furniture, the stuff around the pool, all of that felt very contemporary and redone. The spa felt a little dated in some areas, like in the the dressing rooms and stuff, but then the spa itself felt brand new. So it was kind of mixed, but I think for most people, if they like that size of ship, they're not gonna care so much about the you know what's the word?

Mikkel:

Like the finishes, yeah, yeah, because I think it's fine as much as long as it reaches a certain standard for the cost. Especially the state rooms, right, right.

Sheri:

Because they're bougie. Bougie very they're beautiful, beautiful. You walk in and you're like, whoa, like look the headboard is all velvety and fancy. Oh, I love a velvety headboard. I know. And then like on the balcony, you had real furniture, beautiful, sturdy. It's just you can tell that they put a lot of money into it. Yeah, yeah.

Mikkel:

You're right. I mean, the amount of passengers on it makes a big difference. And as you said, the newer ships are double the size. So I think that's a strong consideration. It definitely would be for Dan and me, who, you know, we kind of consider small ships a thousand, give or take. I mean, we would still consider Oceania with 1,200 passengers small. But yeah, to your point. Yeah. Okay. We'll come back to the ship and the oceana experience. But you were in Astoria, you were in Sica. Let's finish up that itinerary. And actually, as you're saying it, it kind of sounds like it was Alaska, but it was also sort of like a North American meets Alaska, which Alaska, I know, is North America, but you know what I mean? Like almost at the mainland. Kind of Pacific Coasty, yeah. Yeah, Pacific Coasty. Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Sheri:

Yeah, sort of, like but not the usual Pacific Coast stops. Like it did not go to Santa Barbara. Um, but yeah, it's kind of like Pacific Coast with a twist, but I feel like that's what Oceania does so well. Their itineraries are out of control, amazing. They go to some really neat places, and I think if anyone's more into destinations, you have to poke around on their website and see what they're offering because they they combine certain regions in such an interesting fashion. Like they have a Canada-New England kind of a voyage that then goes over to Iceland. Oh, cool. Which geographically makes sense, but they do such a good job.

Mikkel:

Yeah, that's really cool, actually. Yeah.

Sheri:

Yeah. So after Sitka, we did Hubbard Glacier, amazing. Then Icy Strait Point. We booked the zip line, which we had actually never done before, and we booked it through the cruise line and had a wonderful time. It was freezing cold, but super dramatic and awesome. And they let you take your camera on that zip line, which is great. You kind of sit down in a big old harness that feels like you're in like a big old grocery bag, like holding on. And then they make you wear goggles. I love the vision of this. I know. It's really it's really you look so goofy. You look so goofy. Like someone's pushing you on a giant swing made out of a burlap grocery bag, and then you're wearing these clear goggles. Because you go so fast down. Yeah, for a lot of reasons, but just the wind and the elements. You need to be wearing those goggles. That's awesome. So it's fun for the whole family. And then the next day we visited Juno and we did the helicopter and visited the dog camp, which was neat where all the doggies go for the summer. And got to experience that. And that was wonderful. My son had never been on a helicopter. That was his first time. So he was in awe. Shorter day in Juneau. It was like a seven to three port stop. And then we made our way to our last spot, which was Ketchikan. And we did what was called a rainforest e-bike tour that day. Another really fun one. I think that's available with most cruise companies as well. But you don't have to be particularly athletic to do an e-bike. It's super fun and easy. And you almost don't even get tired, even though it's quite a few miles out to the lake. So we really enjoyed that one. And we got super lucky with the weather that day. Finally, the sun had come out, and even the locals in Ketchikan were like, yeah, this is weird. This is warm and sunny. So kind of redeemed our cold weather from the earlier bit of the trip that day.

Mikkel:

Yeah. And then did you make your way to Vancouver after that?

Sheri:

Yeah, we made our way to Vancouver and then we ended up having to just fly home, unfortunately. So not a lot of exploration up there, but there was another sea day after Catch a Can, and then it was a debark in Vancouver. But quite a few sea days really for a 12-night cruise.

Mikkel:

That's the perfect transition. Yeah. Talk about what's on the ship. Mm-hmm. So you were in concierge level. Yes. So walk us through what that means. You said the room was beautiful. And then during those sea days, what you all found yourself doing and enjoying on the ship and some great perks about sailing on Oceania. And even some if you have some constructive feedback. Sure.

Speaker 3:

For anyone who's considering it.

Sheri:

Yeah. So the concierge level veranda, state rooms themselves aren't super different in the way that they look, but they do give you some exclusive privileges. So everybody on Oceania gets a really nice room service menu, and I believe it's 24 hours a day. But they do have an expanded lunch and dinner one that where you can order from the grand dining room if you're staying in one of those rooms, which could be very nice if you were celebrating a special occasion or just wanted to kind of chill. And they also offer free laundry. Ooh, like love. Three bags. Yeah, I know.

Mikkel:

That makes a big difference on a 12-day cruise, especially if you're gonna extend for people who are. That's a big difference. Yes.

Sheri:

Yeah, if you're getting off and you need to take clean clothes with you. I think it was three bags per stateroom. But the amazing thing is they also have a self-serve laundromat that's completely included on the ship. And so we would do some of our own laundry as well here and there because it was a pretty wet trip.

Mikkel:

It sounds like it.

Sheri:

Yeah, we were washing the jeans and the socks here and there. But on some of the ships, the concierge level veranda also gets you access to a concierge lounge, which this ship doesn't have. Only Marina, Riviera, Vista, and Alora have that, and that's where you can get sodas and snacks and coffee and all that good stuff. And I think that they had a bottle of Prosecco waiting in the room, and you have priority specialty dining. And then the part that we enjoyed the most was that you get access to the Aquamar Spa Terrace, which is like if you think about some ship within a ship concepts, how they have their own like pool deck. This is sort of it's different on every ship, but on this one, it was basically like an hot tub deck extended off of the spa. Okay. And this was amazing because the one thing that they don't do much on Oceania, which would be my only, like you said, constructive vision is they really don't have bathtubs very much on these ships. And so if you're I'm just I was freezing and I just wanted a nice hot soak. I love a bathtub. You're speaking to a bank.

Mikkel:

No, you do. You're one of the rare ones. Never have a bathtub ever again. Like my sister took out most of the bathtubs in her house, and I'm like, we wouldn't even consider looking at houses without a bathtub.

Sheri:

It's so interesting. When we moved into our home, too, we had somebody come over and look at our bathrooms and like, do not remove the showers. Because I was gonna make one just literally a bathtub room, and like, don't do it, it'll kill your resill. Oh my gosh.

Mikkel:

What are you talking about? Like, I don't want anybody buying my house who's not a bathtub girl. I know.

Sheri:

You can't have it. Right. Oh. Okay. So not a lot of. So that was amazing. No, and there were usually no people in that Aquamar Spa terrace hot tub. Like it was quiet. I'm sure that on occasion people would go in, but this is not your busy hot tub. This is like a quiet one where you could probably go and it had a pretty view. It was lovely. And it was one of the larger hot tubs. So I loved that so much. And I think they throw in a tote bag and some lap blankets in your room. And if you want to have your items pressed when you get on the ship, they'll do that for you. I don't think we even knew about that at the time. But very nice to have those touches. Does it make all the difference in the world on Oceania? Probably not, because the onboard experience is so wonderful anyway. And the food is so good that I don't feel like you need a whole lot of those extras. But it was nice. It was good to have the spa terrace, especially. I felt like that was something that I really felt and noticed.

Mikkel:

What about the food? Tell me a little bit more about the food on Oceania that you just mentioned.

Sheri:

Yeah, they're so well known for the food. So we were really curious as to what the food was going to be like. And it's not super complicated on Oceania, which is nice. You've got your main dining room. I think they do three meals a day, and then you have a beautiful buffet, which is for the most part staff served. But the buffet is where they really take it up a notch. And you're talking about like seafood that is pretty elite every single day of your cruise and different themed events too. Like they'd have a salmon night or a seafood event, and then other times they would have Asian food. But it's not what you would think of as like mainstream cruise line theme night, where it's like, okay, tonight it's German night. No, seafood night, you had lobster tails being grilled right behind the buffet. You could see the lobster sitting on the grill. You're like, okay, this is different. This is much more of a premium experience than the mass market. And we found the food to be excellent. They also make their own ice cream on board, and they have some of the best flavors. And we show and tell about some of that in some of our YouTube videos. If you want to see the ice cream, it's definitely in there. We tried it just because we were like, these are some of the neatest flavors. And you'll have to kind of leave that part, leave it to surprise. I mean, they're not super weird flavors. They're good enough, but not what you would necessarily find at the grocery store in the freezer.

Mikkel:

Which keeps it interesting and makes you feel like you're having something you wouldn't get at home, which is what you want on vacation.

Sheri:

Exactly, exactly. And then aside from the main dining room and the buffet, you also have that complimentary room service, which is very nicely presented, high quality. You could get full omelets for breakfast, things like that is really quite lovely. And then you also have access to the specialty restaurants, and there are two. They're kind of in prime location up high on the ship, and they have a steakhouse and they have an Italian restaurant. And with your cruise, you typically get one of each of those per voyage, but you can put yourself on kind of a waiting list to get more time in either of them. So they have Toscana, and Toscana is the Italian one, and I just love the location of it. It's on the top side of the ship, but then it wraps around the aft. So if you get lucky enough to get a seat looking aft, it's that calm wake and the beautiful Alaskan scenery. I remember we went there for Mother's Day, and that was really nice. Yeah. And when you first sit down, they they bring like an olive oil cart. Love. You get to select your olive oils. They have Somaliers everywhere, by the way. The Somaliers will be in the main dining room. They'll also be in the specialties. And I'm pretty sure if they didn't have a Somalier in the buffet, they had all the fancy wine available there too.

Mikkel:

And is the dining experience included for everybody? It's just a matter of if everybody eats there once and then you can get in again.

Sheri:

Yeah, you can get it again. Yeah, and if you get it again, you get it again at no charge. Okay. So on these longer voyages, it's a little easier to get it more than once because it's a longer trip and you know they can spread people out in there. Yeah. But the Italian place was wonderful. The steakhouse was fabulous as well. Kind of a nice traditional dark wood decor, white linen tablecloths, and fancy Angus beef. It was lovely. They even had lobster, other grilled seafoods, tableside Caesar, all that good stuff. Really nice. Table side Caesar. Oh, right. So good.

Mikkel:

Isn't it funny how steakhouses like you want them to have that dark warmth of the wood and a white tablecloth? As if the cows made the decision or something. They were like, every wonderful steakhouse needs to be decorated in such a fashion. But it's true.

Sheri:

It's true. You want it to have that look. Like you should be smoking a cigar just outside. Yeah. So they have another restaurant that actually is my personal favorite on board, and it's called the Waves Grill. And it's kind of the alfresco area. It's just outside the buffet, but it's not part of the buffet. They have their own grill. But it's not just like burgers and fish and chips. They have those things, but you're also getting a like a surf and turf sandwich that had like filet mignon medallions and lobster on it, which I could have literally eaten it every day.

Mikkel:

I've never seen that on a menu, so that's really I mean I've seen surf and turf, but not like a sandwich like that. That's awesome.

Sheri:

So good. So good. And everything is made to order out there. My husband would get grilled fish quite often. And they also have a little salad bar at lunch. You can serve yourself. And then at breakfast, they have fruits and pastries. So if you wanted to like duck into the buffet, grab yourself a beautiful omelette, and then step out to the grill. You could grab some pastries and things and sit by the pool if the weather is good enough. But we absolutely loved it there. They always had blankets for you as well because it would get cool.

Mikkel:

So it's outdoors, poolside.

Sheri:

Outdoors and poolside, but covered. Okay. So you could you could extend out into the sunshine and into the elements if you wanted to. But if it was drizzling and rainy, you could still sit out there if you could tolerate the chill. Yeah. Um, and a lot of people did. They would bundle up and wear their jackets, get the blankets, and sit out there just because it was so pleasant. So we loved it. And they also have ice cream out there. So they have like all the secret Humphrey Slocombe flavors out there. And it's wonderful. That was our favorite. It was also like after you got home from an excursion. If it was in time for lunch, you definitely wanted to go there and still see what was around you. You could look up and see the snow-capped little peaks in whatever port you were in, and it was really pretty. And then they have tea as well. And I I believe that tea was 4 to 5 p.m. every day, which I thought is a little bit on the later side, personally, but most of the restaurants don't open until 6. So it's just the way that they do it. But the tea was very nice, and that was held up in their sort of lounge. They have kind of like an observation lounge type area on the ship, and it was beautiful. Really nice tea, a little more traditional, and lots of selection of savories and sweets.

Mikkel:

Did they serve you like a multi-tiered or you got to pick what you wanted?

Sheri:

You got to pick. Okay. Yeah. That's cool.

Mikkel:

So there's no waste, which I like. You got everything you want.

Sheri:

Yeah. And they had like white glove servers. That's really nice. Exactly. So they have a variety of different packages, and I've noticed that they've changed since the time that we sailed. But most people, when you sail with them, you get wine and beer with lunch and dinner. So for some people that might be enough, but you can upgrade to a more inclusive package to get all of your cocktails. But if you wanted to just pay cash for them, their bar drinks are so strong, Mikkel. And we're talking like they have so many martinis on the menu, and they're not playing around with those drinks. So if you like generous pores, and this is where you were going to go and just kind of chill before dinner. Everybody would do that. You go enjoy the live piano music before dinner, grab a nice stiff martini or whatever it was. And it kind of they kind of have this retro vibe in the main bar there with a lot of the naming conventions of the drinks. Like you could have the Bordeaux and other like kind of Hollywood-ish names, and the vibe felt that way. So it was great. That's exactly what I wanted to talk about next. Read my mind. Yeah. Yeah. So they have they have a nice theater on board Regatta. And I'm sure that on the newer ships, the theaters are probably getting more specifically designed for Oceania, whereas this one was part of the R class fleet. But they had some incredible entertainment. It doesn't get necessarily sleepy in the evening. They generally have some kind of a show. They had a pianist on board. His name was Abner. This is awesome younger guy who could do everything from like classics to like Billy Joel. And he was outstanding. He would then sometimes combine with other entertainers. They would do different themes. They had like a Mexican folkloric night with an incredible vocalist. And then they had like singers and dancers and like mini shows. Um, but they were relatively well attended. It wasn't like the theater was packed every night. I think people were probably like, okay, I'm gonna go check it out, but then I'm probably gonna go to the bar for one more drink and crash out. It wasn't like there's not it wasn't like a disco or anything like that. I was pleasantly surprised with the entertainment, and it's such a small ship that you could probably interact with the entertainers if you wanted to. Like after the show, you're basically sitting in the same area that they're performing, and they'll just kind of hang around after the show and you could say hello. I took pictures with them a couple times. I thought that was kind of unusual and part of that small ship experience. Right, right. I felt like they brought extremely talented people on who could do more things than your average cruise ship entertainer. So they could cross over into different genres and you didn't get the feeling that they had phoned it in with these people. Right. You feel like they picked the cream of the crop. That's awesome. But yeah, I mean the production shows they're working with smaller stages too.

Mikkel:

So uh which goes along with like less tech and all the bells and whatnot, which is fine.

Sheri:

Yeah. It kind of just depends. I think one thing I noticed is that people seemed just as interested in seeing the string quartets and things like that during the day as they did maybe the production shows. And I think that has to do with the fact that you've got less of a nightlife kind of a vibe. But I think they've done a really good job for the size of the ship and the demographic of the passengers, without a doubt.

Mikkel:

So it was always on board entertainment. They weren't bringing on, it was kind of an interesting itinerary to do it, but they weren't necessarily bringing on anyone from Alaska to local performers. It was always on board.

Sheri:

I don't I don't think that they brought anyone on for this one, but I think that might be something that they do in other destinations. I know that Norwegian will do that on occasion. They just did that on their Latitudes Rewards cruise that I was on in November. They brought people on from Mexico. So I think it's possible that that may be part of their lineup on occasion. But as it stands, usually all of their ships have a combo of pianists, string quartets, vocalists, and like headliners. And they rotate them. So there's definitely something to do. And I felt like the the performers also took pride in what they did, and you could just kind of feel it. You see them around the ship, and they were uh interacting with the guests all the time. It just feels like they did a really good job for what it is and for the type of ship that you're on. It was definitely better than I expected.

Mikkel:

Yeah, it sounds outstanding.

Sheri:

The only other thing is they they do have casinos, at least they did on this one. It's a small casino, but it was cute and nice, and people were taking advantage of it. And also, if you're going on Oceania, you gotta check out the library. Their libraries are without a doubt some of the most spectacular at sea, and they have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of titles in there. So if you want to curl up with a novel, some people will also enjoy going and working up there. Absolutely beautiful libraries. Were you on their internet? Yes. And I had the best internet I've ever had in Alaska. I had to live stream from Alaska, and we were able to do that probably I'd say at least 50% of the time when we needed to. Okay. That's something it worked out really well. Yeah. I love it.

Mikkel:

Well, okay, I can't wait to see the video of the ice cream. Say no more. You had me at ice cream, but then you really knocked it out of the park with the unique flavors. So I'm definitely going on your YouTube right after this, and it is Cruise Tips TV. We will link that up. We can also find you at cruise tipstv.com. You're also on Instagram under the same name, Cruise Tips TV, and on Facebook. You also have a course. Let's not sell you short. A great course. Yeah, tell everybody about the course and what they can learn from it.

Sheri:

And it is incredibly affordable. You can just go to cruise tipstv.com and click on tutorials. But if you're a first-time cruiser, you can learn all about how to pack for a cruise plan, select a cruise line, and everything kind of led through in videos.

Mikkel:

Yeah, I love that. So please follow Sheri and Mr. Cruise Tips TV and Junior. Listen to their podcast. We were on last week. You are on this week for us. So whenever you're listening to this, check out her podcast.

Sheri:

And yeah, there's good stuff about Regatta, Oceania Regatta on YouTube too. We've got a veranda tour. If you want to see what that veranda looks like completely refurbished, we have a full ship tour, we have a review, which is like a 20-minute version of what the cruise was really like. Every port, every little thing that we did on the ship, and then kind of a first impressions video that we filmed while we were on board, but like a little earlier in the cruise. So four videos that help people to get a really good idea for what to expect.

Mikkel:

That's perfect. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm honored. I'm flattered. I know Dan is too. I know you saw his face last week, too. So I can't wait to do it again for future cruises on both sides.

Sheri:

We will do it. Thank you so much, Mikkel. And I hope your audience enjoys Oceania. It's an incredible cruise line.

Mikkel:

Awesome.

Sheri:

Thank you. Bye. Thank you guys.

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