Buh bye, buffets? Heres what its like to cruise now – The Boston Globe

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When the CDC ended its COVID-19 cruise ship program in July, many cruise lines changed their health and safety protocols. Major companies like Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line (who own several brands) rolled back their COVID-19 rules and removed testing requirements for vaccinated passengers on some voyages. Tests are still required in certain cases, though, depending on the policies of the ports to be visited. (The United States no longer requires a negative COVID test before reentering the country.)

On Oceania Cruises, the line we were sailing, vaccinated travelers 12 and older do not need to test to embark. Unvaccinated travelers, however, must present a negative, medically administered COVID-19 test that is not more than 72 hours old at the time of boarding.

We were sailing aboard Oceanias Marina, traveling from Trieste, Italy, to Rome. Our ports of call would include Split and Dubrovnik, Croatia, along with Kotor, Montenegro, Corfu, Greece, Messina (Sicily), and Sorrento/Capri, Italy. A new port every day, yay! We get excited about waking up someplace new and heading out to explore. This cruise line is known for that type of itinerary (many ports, few sea days) and its culinary program. Plus, Oceania was recently named one of Travel+ Leisures top cruise lines, praising the UK-trained master butlers. (Not all categories of cabins have butler service.)

So far, so good. But we soon discovered that our Venetian Vignettes-themed cruise wasnt actually boarding in Venice, or even stopping by for a quick Ciao! Cruise ships this size are no longer calling at the port, so our ship would sail from Trieste instead. No Piazza San Marco! No Palazzo Ducale! Bummer.

We arrived a day early for our cruise, a recommended strategy these days when flight delays and cancellations are common. Even though we were haggard from our red-eye flight, we managed to drag ourselves around Trieste and get acquainted. It turned out to be one of our favorite ports. Set on the cuff of Italys boot to the northeast, Trieste is situated between Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea. Once a Habsburg city under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the city has an intriguing history and has been officially part of Italy only since 1954. Some Triestines are pushing for independence. The Piazza Unit dItalia was a perfect place to people-watch amid splendid neoclassical buildings, and we found a good spot for dinner near Triestes Instagram-worthy Canal Grande.

The following day, we walked over to our ship at the assigned time. Boarding typically a crowd-fest is now staggered, so there were no long lines. We showed our vaccination certificates (boosters arent currently required, but are strongly recommended since many ports require them). The ships crew is fully vaccinated, which is commonplace these days. Our bags were quickly whisked to our rooms, so we freshened up and, in true cruise mode, made a beeline for the food.

Who was that masked man?

Wed forgotten the true bounty of a cruise ship buffet: so many stations laden with tasty-looking edibles! On Oceania ships, all provisions are fresh, and everything is made from scratch. But there was no helping yourself to a taste of this or a bite of that, DIY-style; servers are lined up behind the buffet stations to handle the task. Its probably good, hygienically speaking, that there arent 400 different paws handling the calamari tongs, but this hybrid buffet takes getting used to. (Some cruise lines are returning to self-service buffets, Gray Faust said, so your experience may be different than ours.)

During those (rare) moments when we werent eating or drinking, our masks were on. Annoying, yes, but everyone seemed to be onboard (pun intended) with the concept. Some ports, like Italy, require masking for guests traveling there; for other destinations, masking is recommended but not required. Oceania recommends guests travel with several medical-grade masks, a.k.a. FFP2 masks, or KN-95 masks.

The muster drill, when passengers and crew gather for a safety briefing, has gone virtual. As mentioned, the ship can accommodate 1,238 passengers, but Oceania reduced capacity this summer and fall to give passengers more space. That meant no waiting in lines, plenty of pool chairs, and lots of staff attention (two crew members for every three guests, they say). For those who enjoy boisterous holiday-making in crowded clubs, this wasnt that. But every night there was a musical show, or a comedian, a hip magician (not an oxymoron, apparently), and, one night, a show featuring the comedian and the magician. For those still uneasy about hanging with others, Oceania offers 24-hour in-room dining. (We never had the Souffle of the Day but its available.) Theres also a new private dining experience, Prive, where guests can choose among dishes offered at Marinas specialty restaurants, along with a special degustation menu and a wine pairing menu.

Our favorite of the ships specialty restaurants was Toscana, where our low-carb resolutions disappeared as quickly as the fresh bucatini. Every bit of pasta and every smear of sauce was delicious. Oceania does its provisioning locally, and the supply chain was happily intact here.

The best meal we ate was probably the one we made ourselves at the Culinary Center, with a small group of committed (and spaced-apart) foodies. OK, granted, the recipes were created by acclaimed French chef Jacques Ppin, the cruise lines executive culinary director, so we could hardly go wrong. Our Steak Diane was fabulous, our pot d crme sublime. We even got to toss salad with our hands. Chef Jacques wasnt there to correct our mistakes; our instructor was Chef Leah Caplan, an early leader in the slow food movement and fun fact the culinary mastermind behind DiGiorno Pizza. She was so good, we booked a second event with her, a shopping and cooking excursion.

Yep, we did a lot of eating, but it was balanced with sightseeing: strolling museums and ancient walled cities in Croatia, crater-hopping Sicilys Mount Etna, and breezing up (and down) a famous chairlift in Capri, channeling Jackie O in white jeans (accessorized with masks instead of silk scarves, sigh). Since most of our excursions took place outdoors, we doffed the face coverings frequently, though. We brought our vaccination cards with us (along with our cruise cards) in case anyone asked to look at them. Nobody did. At the end of the day, we were greeted by our butler, Himanshu Dwivedi, who seemed delighted to see us each day and delivered tasty nibbles that we devoured (pre-gaming, but with food) before dinner.

Dressing up for dinner and a show is so festive! Exploring unfamiliar ports? As wonderful as ever. Who cares if we had to wear masks on the buses when we were discovering cool towns like Split and Dubrovnik? So, yes, its a different thing to cruise right now. And even that may change, as COVIDs never-ending variants come and go and ports refine or change their protocols. But the good parts of cruising happily remain.

For information: http://www.oceaniacruises.com. Oceanias six ships carry from 684 to 1,238 passengers. Prices begin at $1,599 per guest for a similar seven-day cruise to Italy and Greece aboard Marina in 2023. A new ship, the 1,200-passenger Vista, will set sail beginning next April.

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Diane Bair and Pamela Wright can be reached at bairwright@gmail.com

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Buh bye, buffets? Heres what its like to cruise now - The Boston Globe