Pride Hawaii Cruise Discount And Cruise Review

Overview
With the launch of Insignia, the second ship to join Oceania's fleet, the cruise line has cemented its own unique niche: offering a cruise experience that simultaneously hits three unique marks. It offers a mid-sized ship experience (more traditionally the province of luxury lines) with upscale touches, particularly in dining and service -- and all are offered at a value price point.

Indeed, Oceania, with the near-identical Regatta and Insignia -- and soon, its third ship, Nautica, which launches this fall -- delivers a cruise experience that replicates that of the late, much-lamented Renaissance. The renegade Renaissance, of course, designed and built the ships that Oceania now operates. It heralded the era of all open-seating dining with its four restaurants, the concept of affordable balconies, and itinerary choreography that mixed been-there-done-that destinations with offbeat ports of call.

All of these innovations have been adopted by Oceania, which is no big surprise when you realize that Frank del Rio, the maestro behind Renaissance, is also the driving force at Oceania. What's new, different and ultimately exciting, however, is that this time around, del Rio has paired up with Joe Watters, the former Crystal Cruises honcho, and, as such, this ship is by no means standing still. First up? The line refurbished cabins, adding luxury linens and mattresses. It improved balcony furnishings. It covered pool deck and outside areas with teak decking. And the company blessedly left some areas relatively unimproved, such as the lovely atrium with its Titanic staircase and the gorgeous library with its ceiling murals. After our visit -- so we didn't sample the service -- the line added a concierge-level verandah category, in which passengers are entitled to special perks, such as in-cabin DVDs and mini-fridges, priority embarkation, and restaurant reservations in Toscana and The Polo Grill.

Beyond the enhancements, what really made me an Oceania convert on my British Isles cruise on Insignia was what's known as "soft stuff." Cuisine, overseen by famed uber-chef Jacques Pepin, and service were consistently on par with luxury lines. Although we found that onboard charges seemed higher than average and cabins, albeitly nicely furnished, were smaller than usual, for the most part the Insignia recipe works beautifully.

Public Rooms
First impressions are important, and the ship's main two-level atrium area conveys an English country house hotel feel (complete with a staircase out of "Titanic"). The Lower Hall is the business area, housing the purser's desk and a lovely living-room-like seating area. The Upper Hall holds the forgettable ship shops.

There's a comfortable Internet cafe and a card room for games and such.

Insignia has two primary lounges, and we picked our favorites based on time of day. The lively Martinis is adjacent to the small casino, and on days in port it was a lovely, quiet spot. Horizon Lounge is the place for gorgeous sunset vistas.

Insignia, like Regatta, easily has one of the most beautiful libraries at sea. It's well stocked and well furnished with comfy, deep chairs and couches and a faux fireplace -- and we often saw folks snoozing peaceably.

Entertainment
During the day, entertainment onboard Insignia runs pretty much toward the usual: bridge games, bingo, art auctions and dance classes. More unusual are the once-per-cruise martini tasting and a comprehensive list of Internet classes (both of these charge an extra fee).

At night, there's lounge music in places like Martinis and some kind of "main event" show in the Insignia Lounge -- while not as elaborate as those on the big ships, the variety, from song and dance to comedy, is entertaining enough.

Shore excursions are a low point on this ship, overpriced and run-of-the-mill. There was little that tempted us, and even less assistance was provided to independent-minded wanderers.

Fellow Passengers
Oceania attracts mostly North American passengers. Many of these folks fall into the mature traveler category and have seen much of the world. In our early 40's and among the youngest onboard, we nevertheless felt as if we fit in.

Gratuity
Insignia levies a $10.50 per-person, per-day charge (payable on your onboard account).

By Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor of Cruise Critic.

Dress Code
Plan for country club casual and you'll be fine (pretty flowing skirt/pants outfits for women, jackets and, okay, maybe one tie for men). There are no formal evenings onboard.

Fitness and Recreation
Insignia has a lovely, compact spa and beauty salon that offers the usual gamut of services (our massage was nice). The spa is now operated by Mandara, the Balinese-style offshoot of the industry's ubiquitous Steiner.

Easily missed is a thalassotherapy pool located forward of the spa -- sometimes there was a charge to use it, other times there wasn't. There's a walking track above the pool area, which also included two whirlpools.

Dining
The highlight of our cruise each day was returning to the ship to dine (we found we ate in restaurants in ports of call far less often than usual).

Insignia, like its sibling Regatta, operates four main restaurants. All are open seating, which means you pick your tablemates and time. The Grand Dining Room is the main venue for dining and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast offers a pleasing variety of menus, as does lunch, but dinner is the highlight of the day. Menus are continental with nice, regional touches in some cases (a lamb stew while in the Shetlands, a fabulous Scottish themed night -- with haggis! -- while in Peterhead). You can always order simple food -- grilled sirloin, salmon filet, pasta -- and each night there's also spa fare.

Insignia's two alternative restaurants are also superlative. Toscana features an elegant Italian experience, and the multi-course menu offers old standards (fettuccini carbonara and caprese salad) along with more daring fare (a veal, tuna and capers antipasti, and filet mignon in a Piedmonte truffle sauce). The Polo Grill, located opposite, features steakhouse cuisine. Neither charges a service fee.

During the day, the Terrace Grill (with its lovely outdoor seating area, aft) fulfills casual dining needs, offering the usual buffet suspects for breakfast and lunch. Waves Grill is the ship's poolside venue and offers sandwich fare -- and waiter service!

Our favorite venue has to be Tapas on the Terrace; at night, the lido buffet is transformed into a fabulous Spanish cafe with small-plate-style fare. We tried the seafood salad, grilled shrimp, (best ever) gazpacho, seafood paella and beef tenderloin, accompanied by a reasonably priced Spanish chardonnay (there's also freshly made sangria). Desserts were decadent, too, and because they were small, we could sample a handful.

Finally, don't miss afternoon tea (do we detect the Watters' Crystal touch here?) -- it's held in the Horizon Lounge each afternoon.