| IMO | 9438078 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 66,172 GT |
| Length | 240.0 m |
| Beam | 32.0 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 1250 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 1447 |
| Crew | 800 |
| Service speed | 20 knots |
| Builder | Fincantieri |
| Hull number | 6195 |
| Launched | 2011 |
| Maiden voyage | 2012 |
| Operator | Oceania Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Riviera is an Oceania-class cruise ship operated by Oceania Cruises, built by Fincantieri at its Sestri Ponente yard in Genoa — the dataset records the builder simply as Fincantieri — and entered service in May 2012. She is the second of Oceania's first purpose-built pair, following Marina (2011), and with her the line moved decisively beyond the secondhand R-class ships on which it had been founded. The dataset names her, plainly, Riviera, without the line prefix some listings add; that is her registered name.
The dataset also records her as launched in 2012. Her own ship article gives a float-out on 16 July 2011, with 2012 being her year of delivery, christening and maiden voyage — the launch year in the dataset should be read as her entry-into-service year, and the discrepancy is flagged in this guide's report.
Key specifications
The dataset gives 66,172 GT, a length of 240.0 metres and a beam of 32.0 metres. Her ship article quotes slightly different measurements in places — a tonnage of 66,172 GT in the infobox against 66,084 GT in its text, a length of 239.27 metres and a beam of 32.31 metres — the usual small spread between design, delivery and registry figures for this class. She has 15 decks, 11 of them guest decks, and a draught of about 7.3 metres.
The dataset leaves capacity, crew and speed blank, so those come from her article: 1,250 passengers at double occupancy, a crew of about 800, and a speed of 20 knots from a diesel-electric plant of two Wärtsilä 12V46C and two 8L46C engines driving twin fixed-pitch propellers through electric motors. She was ordered in 2007 and built at a reported cost of about $530 million.
Design and construction
Until the Oceania class, Oceania Cruises had grown entirely on acquired tonnage — the ex-Renaissance R-class ships Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. Marina and Riviera were the line's first newbuilds, ordered from Fincantieri in 2007 and designed to keep the R-class virtues — mid-size hull, high space ratio, destination-focused programmes — while removing their constraints: more balcony cabins, larger restaurants, and public rooms sized for the line's food-led identity.
Riviera, yard number 6195 at Sestri Ponente, was floated out on 16 July 2011. Her completion was then delayed: labour disputes at the yard pushed her delivery from spring 2012 back by some months, her planned April christening in Monte Carlo was postponed, and she was finally delivered in May 2012.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Riviera was christened in Barcelona on 11 May 2012 — the ceremony having been moved from the originally announced Monte Carlo event of 19 April when the yard delay intervened — and she sailed on her maiden voyage on 16 May 2012, a 10-day cruise from Venice to Athens. Her name, like her sister's, evokes the classic resort coasts of the Mediterranean the line's identity is built on: Marina for the harbour, Riviera for the shore itself.
Career by operator
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2012–present | Riviera | Oceania Cruises |
Riviera has had one name and one operator throughout her career. In fleet terms her significance is generational: with Marina she let Oceania retire its dependence on 1990s hulls and set the design template — tonnage, layout and restaurant mix — that the line's later, larger Allura class would scale up two decades later. Deployments and itineraries are deliberately not catalogued here; this directory records the ship, not her sailings.
Onboard character
Oceania built its brand on food, and Riviera was designed as its fullest expression afloat in 2012: a Grand Dining Room under a chandelier, a ring of specialty restaurants — French, Italian, steakhouse and pan-Asian among them — included in the fare rather than charged as extras, and two venues that were genuinely era-defining. The Culinary Center was a hands-on teaching kitchen at sea, with individual cooking stations for classes led by master chefs; La Reserve, developed with Wine Spectator, offered small-group wine-pairing dinners; and Privée hosted a single private party a night. No mainstream ship of her year put instruction and tasting, rather than spectacle, at its centre.
The design language matched: a Lalique crystal grand staircase, Owner's Suites furnished from the Ralph Lauren Home collection, and a library and lounges in a quiet, residential country-club style. At 66,000 GT for 1,250 guests she carried one of the highest space ratios of any ship of her generation — the physical basis of the premium positioning Oceania was selling.
Major refits and incidents
Riviera has been through the normal Oceania cycle of drydock refreshes, of which the most widely listed is a refurbishment in 2022. No lengthening, cabin-block addition or other structural change is recorded for this hull.
No major incident involving Riviera was found in the sources consulted for this guide.
Sister ships and class
The Oceania class comprises just two ships: Marina (2011) and Riviera (2012), both Fincantieri Sestri Ponente builds to the same design. Together with the three smaller ex-R-class ships they gave Oceania a five-ship premium fleet for a decade, until the larger Allura class — Vista (2023) and Allura (2025) — began to succeed them. Riviera and Marina remain the hinge between the line's secondhand beginnings and its newbuild present.
Fate and where she is now
Riviera remains in active service with Oceania Cruises, registered in the Marshall Islands, as the dataset records. Still a young ship by the standards of this directory, her recorded history is one of design influence rather than event: one name, one operator, and a template — mid-size, food-led, high space ratio — that reshaped the premium tier of the industry.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Riviera