How Oceania's Customer Experience Won Over 2 Cruise Skeptics

In her book The Experience Mindset, Tiffani Bova writes that employees "carry the torch every day for the values and mission of their company." She argues that great customer experience isn't defined by what a company offers, but by how customers feel when they engage with its products, its people and its brand — and how well the company helps them achieve what matters to them.

That idea crystallized for me on a recent vacation, thanks to two companies that got it right: Oceania Cruises and Iberia Airlines.

How A Small-Ship Cruise Changed Our Minds About Cruising

My wife and I have never been cruise people. We don't care for large cruise lines, and we assumed river cruising — which we tried last year — would suit us better. It didn't. The experience felt like floating through a history with a cruise director reluctant to tell us what was actually happening the next day. Meals were repetitive, and one particularly long briefing on canal locks tested our patience.

So, we were surprised by how much we enjoyed Oceania. The ship carried just 600 guests, small enough that details we cared about didn't get lost. Each morning began with an announcement from Paul, the cruise director, previewing the day. For anyone who wanted more, a deep-dive video played on the in-room TV covering the essentials: how to disembark, where to find tours and reminders about meals and entertainment.

That support extended to excursions, whether booked through Oceania or through outside vendors like Get Your Guide. Staff walked us through exactly how to reach our tour's starting point — on any cruise, the persistent anxiety is making it back to the ship on time. Oceania turned that anxiety into a non-issue.

The contrast with our river cruise showed up in small but telling ways. Instead of a lecture on locks, we got a briefing on the Age of Exploration as we approached Spain and Portugal — the key leaders, the roles of the cities we'd soon see. Context, it turns out, matters. Our cabin was small, but the balcony made up for it, and housekeeping cleaned twice a day with thoughtful touches each evening. We got to know the staff who cared for our room well enough to thank them by name — something that never happened on the river cruise.

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Why Did Oceania Cruises Outperform A Previous River Cruise?

A smaller, 600-guest ship let staff track guest preferences and logistics closely, and daily briefings replaced the vague scheduling that frustrated the author on a prior river cruise.

When Dining Staff Remember Your Order By Day 2

Oceania offered two specialty restaurants, a deck-top restaurant, a main dining room and a coffee bar. By our second day, the staff had started remembering us. My coffee order the first morning was just an order; by day two, my waiter asked whether my wife wanted her usual vanilla latte, and how many shots.

That attentiveness held throughout the trip. Once the wait staff knew me, gluten-free bread appeared without my asking. When raisins weren't out for the oatmeal bar, someone brought them to my table. Menus changed nightly across the different dining rooms.

I'll admit I was nervous about the buffet — two of our neighbors had gotten sick on a large cruise recently, and norovirus spreads primarily through hand contact. But hand-sanitizing stations were everywhere, and the message was clear: enjoy the buffet, just clean your hands first.

How Did Oceania's Dining Staff Personalize The Guest Experience?

By the second day, wait staff remembered drink orders and dietary needs without being asked, bringing gluten-free bread and requested items unprompted.

Why We Booked Oceania Again Before Disembarking

Evenings brought a rotating lineup — a genuinely funny comedian-mentalist (there's video of me making sound effects for one of his bits; editor's note: Myles, why don't we have this? :), plus strong singers and dancers, with multiple options most nights. But the common thread across all of it was intent: everything Oceania's staff did seemed built around making guests want to come back.

It worked. My wife and I decided to book again with friends — and even that request got personalized attention. We told the future-cruise coordinator, Spencer, that we'd enjoyed the cruise but wanted a cooler time of year. Rather than just swapping dates, he suggested a different itinerary that matched what we wanted, then walked us through logistics: how to get to the new departure point, pre- and post-cruise options and which cabins would give us the best balcony views on a different ship's layout.

Every part of the experience, in other words, was designed around us. The one place that philosophy didn't extend was our post-cruise stop in Évora, Portugal, where a hotel with a nice pool let the surrounding area go uncleaned, left our air conditioning broken and declined to fix either problem or offer compensation. We were ready to be back on the boat.

How Did Iberia Airlines' Crew Recover A Lost Wedding Ring?

The captain and cabin crew searched under the seat during landing, brought in maintenance to partially disassemble it, then found the couple after customs to return the ring in person.

How Iberia Airlines Recovered A Lost Wedding Ring

We flew Iberia to and from our vacation, and the crew matched Oceania's focus on customer experience. Meals were solid, but what we'll remember is the ending of the trip.

My wife had taken off her wedding ring to apply lotion, and it slipped under her seat. As the plane landed, the crew sprang into action: the captain and cabin crew searched under the seat, and when they couldn't retrieve it, brought in a maintenance crew to partially disassemble the seat itself. We were told to head to customs and collect our bags — and assumed that was that.

Then, as we were leaving the airport, the crew found us. They'd recovered the ring, and the maintenance team handed it back in person, with hugs for both of us.

The Real Difference Between Good and Great Customer Experience

Oceania and Iberia had little in common as businesses, but they shared something rarer: staff empowered to be genuine people who cared about the people in front of them, while still delivering on their companies stated values. Technology can support a good customer experience. But, as Bova puts it, everything starts and ends with people being people.

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