This was our first experience of the Oceania Line and we booked with high expectations on Insignia for the Fall splendors cruise from Montreal to New York October 18, alas I can only say it was disappointing.
We had a penthouse suite which was roomy and comfortable but it came at a high cost which i can only say was not worth it due to other issues on the ship.
The Insignia is due to be refurbished shortly or Re-imagined as Oceania call it which it very badly needs.
It also has many problems on service as while it has a very high crew to guest ratio , there is a definite problem on communication where the waiting staff continually get it wrong either delivering the wrong meal to the wrong guest or table or mixing up orders on meals this is always a problem in the Grand dinning room at breakfast , lunch and dinner.
On this cruise we missed two ports of call due to the inability to tender with no alternatives but to spend an extra 2 days at sea moving very slowly to waste time to the next port making the sailing conditions more uncomfortable.
Some areas of the ship are very tired indeed with a smell of damp and visible rotting wood, while a referb should fix this it wont address the poor service.
Also if you are tempted to go for a Penthouse stateroom to get butler service dont bother, ours was conspicuous by his absence and we only saw him 6 times in 10 days.
Also beware of the free laundry service they managed to shrink most of my shirt s with a printed disclaimer that if it happens its at the guest risk !! so not our problem sir will be the answer.
In short we will not use this line again in a hurry we have had much better service and experience on Cunard for a lot less money.
