Thinking of travelling with children or grandchildren?

Our Oceania ship of choice was the recently refurbished Riviera sailing on a Rome round-trip with the Amalfi Coast, Mykonos, Santorini and Athens being just a few notable ports on our 11 night voyage. The refurbish is to a level of such quality there is next to no telling signs that Riviera is now a 12 year old vessel!

On to what made this trip so brilliant for my 9 year old son Theo. From the minute we stepped onboard he was made to feel like a celebrity on the ship! From special mentions on the Riviera Today morning television show to shout outs in the Theatre; Theo loved all of it!

So what is there for an active 9 year old to do onboard with Oceania?

Theo’s daily ritual started with watching the Riviera Today show in bed; this gave him an idea of all the upcoming activities, events and shows for the day. Daily activities included hosted events such as Giant Jenga, Table Tennis and Bean Bag Toss. We also had multiple games of Pickle Ball as well as giving the golf driving range a go and 162 holes of golf on the sports deck! Needless to say I lost more than I won! In between all this activity Theo spent plenty of time in the pool on board as well as the hot tub; he particularly enjoyed the depth of the pool as it was his ‘mission’ to touch the bottom! Through Theo’s tireless efforts and recalling the word of the day to Cruise Direct Paul, Theo accumulated a haul of 103 Big O Points onboard. Your Big O Points can be exchanged on your last day for items such as branded bags, towels, hats and clothing. Of which Theo chose 2 shirts, a hat and tote bag for his Mum. Every evening involved a planned itinerary from Theo of where we were eating, where we were dining, which show we were seeing and which ‘after party’ we were going to in Horizons.

How was Theo’s food experience?

Let’s start at the beginning; we logged into the Oceania Customer Portal before embarkation to reserve the 4 speciality restaurants onboard for the nights we wanted.

There is the following speciality restaurants to choose from on Riviera:

• Jacques – French Cuisine
• Red Ginger – Pan Asian
• Toscana - Italian
• Polo Grill – Steak House

As well as this there is also the Terrace Café for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Waves Grill which offers snacks for lunch and pizza for dinner. The Grand dining room has no reservation requirement and is open for breakfast and dinner.

Theo is an avid foodie so this cuisine overload was his idea of heaven. To give you an idea of the appetite he worked up on just the first day Theo had Muscles, Lobster Bisque, Sirloin steak and ice cream for his first meal in the Grand Dining Room.

Theo’s favourite lunch spot was on the back of the Terrace Café with views from the aft of the ship with a Diet Coke and multiple hot dogs with chips which were prepared fresh on the grill. For favourite dinner option Theo was quite torn but eventually settled that is his favourite meal was his steak overload followed by toasted marshmallows in Polo Grill.

And on to Theo’s final rating on his first ever cruise….. you guessed it 10/10.