Oceania Riviera Penthouse Suite Cabin Tour (and Executive Lounge) (Part 3)

Phew, time for some fresh air and hopeful sea life spotting so let's head out on the balcony. Here's a representation of the amount of light that comes in and how clear a view you can have even with the doors closed.

If you have this cabin booked, I suggest you start bulking up on your arm strength now. Neither Dad nor I are strangers to working sliding glass doors leading out to cruise ship balconies. We both tried to open this door on day 1 and it wouldn't budge! We toggled the handle up and down thinking it was locked but it didn't move an inch with either handle setting. We asked our butler Akshay to show us this great magic trick to open the door. He walked over, confirmed that the handle was in the unlocked position as we had left it, then proceeded to slide it open with what seemed to be ease. He joked in response to our shocked faces that the doors do tend to stick sometimes and you need to give it a strong pull. For the rest of the cruise we had to brace ourselves and pull like we thought we'd surely end up breaking the door in order for it to slide open. 

There is a bit of a step over to move back and forth to and from the balcony. Don't be like me who watched out for the step, stepped high, and still tripped over it. Thankfully my cleavage hit the side of the door frame first giving me time to lean my head away from meeting the same fate. Pictures of the colorful bruise that followed will be up on OnlyFans. Have to pay for these cruises somehow! ;) Didn't ever think that having my own natural personal flotation devices would have saved me from headbutting the door frame. 

Due to being directly under the pool deck, our balcony had an overhang completely covering our balcony and then some. The balcony had a good amount of length and width so you could easily pass in front of the chairs and/or have a few people outside enjoying the view. The one time I tried to sit outside for a while I found that the chairs had become very damp. I was also really surprised to find that the balcony railing is solely the white bars across and the dark wood varnished bar along the top. There is no glass or other material stopping a child or drunk cabinmate from reaching through or slipping something between the rails.

Not too shabby of a view straight out though

Our balcony afforded a great view of when the crew operated the lifeboats as tenders in Juneau.

Time to reflect on how much you can see when looking back into the cabin from out on the balcony.

I loved the ingenuity in Oceania having balcony furniture with cushions that hook onto the base so that they don't go flying off in high winds. Did find out the hard (or cushiony) soft way that after one night of predicted rough weather, Lilanie started putting the cushions stacked up between the inside of the balcony glass and the thicker light blocking curtain at evening turndown. I'd walk up to the glass to peek out at any potential scenery and kicked my toes right into the cushion stack I couldn't see was there until I pulled back the curtain. We all know by now how talented I am in finding the hidden obstacle to run into or fall over onto. 

Oceania Cruises has two categories of cabins above a standard veranda cabin that comes with lounge use. The first level is called Concierge Cabins and they have access to a Concierge Lounge. Anyone with a Penthouse Suite or higher has access to what is called the Executive Lounge. This lounge was situated smack in the middle of the Deck 11 biggest block of Penthouse Suite cabins. You needed your cabin keycard to unlock the door but you could enter from either side. We soon learned to look for certain key decor to let us know what door to exit to be on our side of the ship. Both lounges featured a crew member working as a concierge for any help you needed but only during certain hours. There was a couple computers for passengers to use. Displays offered all sorts of forms and reading materials about Oceania's offerings so you could find things like shore excursion explanations, future cruise booking forms, and cooking/technology class schedules. Also tucked in a magazine style caddy in the back was the stack of onboard menus so you could pick out your choices ahead of time or see if the menu was interesting enough to warrant asking the concierge to make/amend a dining reservation.

Dining menu caddy

There was a larger table in the middle of the room with multiple chairs and we saw passengers working on their own devices or playing cards. For the most part, the seating was arranged like a living room around end tables and coffee tables that faced a TV. Only once did the concierge insist on turning on the TV for background noise, asking beforehand. Otherwise the remote was controlled by the passengers decisions on what to watch and most everyone was courteous to ask any other passengers in the room before changing the channel.

I snapped these pictures of the lounge thinking what great luck for stumbling upon a time when no one was inside the lounge. Ten seconds later, the concierge popped out of the back corner where her desk sits behind the paperwork display and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I was a bit disappointed in the snack offerings. Just like Princess' Concierge Lounge, you can pick up certain little bites during the morning hours and different bites during the afternoon hours. By dinnertime on Oceania, the only options left were the remaining cookies that were always out. I love being able to grab fresh fruit or little breakfast bites on Princess when I don't want a full meal. The lounge was routinely cleaned but there was no bartender or waiter there in the evenings to make drinks and bring you snacks while you converse with fellow suite guests like on Princess. The menu was mostly the same but the little plaques sitting on top of the display didn't always seem to line up with what looked like the item's name. 

Typical afternoon offerings were one tray of circular flat cookies, one tray above it of ladyfinger/madeline style cookies, and a couple trays of slider size sandwiches.

Oceania did have a tall fridge that was mostly kept stocked with cans of soda and the refillable bottles of water. A carafe was routinely half full of orange juice so I could grab a glass of juice 24/7. A variety of tea bags, cream, milk, sugar (and its alternatives) as well as cinnamon was also always available to help concoct your beverage of choice from a visual touch button coffee machine screen. I was pleased to see that one of the canisters feeding into the machine was dedicated to hot chocolate mix so I could grab a mug whenever the damp chill inspired me. I discovered that this machine had a cold foam option so I created my own combination drink of hot chocolate, cold foam, and a couple dashes of cinnamon. Tasted just like cocoa with a hint of marshmallow and I had many people making their own cups with my recipe by cruise end. 

The Diet versions of these sodas always disappeared from the cooler the fastest. Passengers would come by, us included, and grab a handful of cans to take back to the cabin.

Thank you for reading to the end of this lengthy cabin photo walkthrough! More to come including our whale watching adventure, specialty versus main dining meals, and that time Oceania made me cook my own breakfast!

Until then, please enjoy these sunrise photos taken from our balcony: