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!

trevi-fountain

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.

games-onboard

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.

dining-steak

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. 

Similar Posts

I recently set sail around the Bordeaux region with Uniworld on the beautiful S.S. Bon Voyage. We covered all 3 rivers, the Garonne, Dordogne and Gironde and visited some of the highest rated wine...
Read More
Budapest at night
I recently had the opportunity to cruise on the most beautiful river cruise ship I’ve ever seen. Ok, it was my first river cruise, so maybe I didn’t have much to compare it to, but I was so impressed...
Read More
There are no words for my time spent on EXPLORA I.  I was so emotional from the moment I saw her. The holiday from start to finish brought the meanings unique and exquisite to another level...
Read More