Oceania Marina – Our home for over a month!

Construction of Marina began in August 2008 in Genoa Italy and was completed and placed in service in January 2011.  Coming in at 66,000 tons carrying 1,250 guests, it is a wonderful place to call home during our month-long voyage.   

Once we got on board, we found our way to our cabin, started to put stuff away and then wandered around to get some feel of the place.    

While wandering around I saw this picture of Mary Hart, from Entertainment Tonight Fame, she is the godmother of Marina.

There is a fitness center (yes, I’ve actually seen it!), a full spa treatment facility (Janeen has already had a mani-pedi) and various pools to relax in.  As yet we haven’t donned our bathing suits, but there is still time for sure.  There is a miniature golf course, shuffle board, paddle tennis, card games, bean bag toss along with various quiz events and scavenger hunt opportunities too.  Needless to say, lots of other things to occupy your time.  In the evenings there is usually some sort of diversion in the Marina Lounge – singers, dancers, magic shows and entertainment.  Yes, there is a casino but can only be open when we are out cruising the South Atlantic (not that I need to go in and lose any money).

One of the first enrichment programs we attended was by Captain Tom Anderson (USN Retired) in the Marina Lounge. He speaks periodically over the cruise.  The basic premise of his presentation was how much the geography of South America has influenced development.  For example, on the west coast, Chile is bounded by the Andes which run north to south and make it virtually impossible to cross west to east between Chile and Argentina.  

Thus, concentration of development is therefore restricted to the coastline.  Similar geography on the eastern side of the continent exists with mountains which restricted the expansion of various cities.  Rio de Janeiro is a good example.  Restricted on the west by mountains, the city is locked in, making expansion of the city virtually impossible.  These cities, while strong and doing well, are not really interlinked, thus making the transportation of goods and services difficult.  It was an interesting perspective of how South American has not had the kind of development similar to North America.  

As Oceania makes a big deal about it having “The Finest Cuisine at Sea” there are a variety of culinary opportunities – 4 specialty restaurants along with cooking classes.  Recently we participated in one of the cooking classes – “Pucker Up: Love and Lemons”.  

Joining with 24 fellow passengers we met in the Culinary Center with Chef Leah and began our preparations for a limoncello cake, risotto and escalloped chicken with capers and preserved lemon.  Risotto was prepared in stages teaching us the “secret” of creamy rice which absorbs the added flavorings as it slowly releases the starch crema.  We added lemon zest, preserved lemon (instead of salt) fresh peas and grated parmesan to our final dish. Meanwhile, our scone-like cakes were baking filled with air pockets and crunchy outer layer to absorb the lemon simple syrup later.  

Sou chefs measured the oils into our skillets and presented us with marinated, pre breaded chicken cutlets which we browned (80/20) removed to plate and fried capers to add to the plate before squeezing lemon juice over the meat.  Leah shared limoncello and sparkling wine flutes to drink with our chicken and risotto. The cakes having soaked up the syrup, we were ready to top them with lemon gelato prepared for us by sou chef Michelle. Recipe sheets were given out to make notes on for preparing at home.

On our second night, on the ship, it was Janeen’s birthday and we celebrated at the French specialty Restaurant – Jacques.  

This was a wonderful meal with truly a French character.  At the end of the meal, instead of offering us dessert, the staff arrived with a birthday cake for Janeen and proceeded to sing the Happy Birthday Song!  It was quite a wonderful surprise.

The Grand Dining Room is large with views off the stern of the ship.  

We have eaten there several times and always had attentive service and good food.  They do have a dress code – well, it is really ‘resort casual’,  no sandals for men.  The Terrace Dining Room is a buffet style but with lots of choices and attentive staff.  The do make a point that the guest doesn’t reach for the food, the staff places it on the plate for you.  Another dining option is Waves, located next to the pool on the 12^th deck, it offers burgers to order and other taste treats including ice cream and smoothies.  However, the place we go first, in the morning, and back throughout the day, is Baristas.  

This is first a coffee bar and second (later in the day) a drinks bar.  Pablo, who anchors the place, makes really nice lattes and cappuccinos to order.  

Of course, there is a library cozy with chairs to browse with lots of books, a puzzle table. .  Hidden away are various places to sit and read, relax and just take in the day.  At the top of the forward part of the ship is Horizons – with sweeping views ahead and a full-service bar.  It is also the spot for the Captain’s introduction of his team on one of the first nights.

Of course, there are Future Cruise Consultants on board ready to book your next adventure.  Since I already knew I was going to do that, I wandered in to meet with Cecelia to discuss what options there would be.  

She put together a nice package and helped us to book our shore excursions too.   We will be back on- board Marina in October for a Mediterranean adventure starting in Malta visiting Montenegro, Croatia, Greece and ending in Rome Italy.  Yes, there will be a blog when this happens.

There is lots more to come about the our adventure in South America – we still have another 2 weeks to go!