Only in the family of cruise ships can siblings be born 15 months apart and be called twins. As parents of boys born 14 months apart, it seems like a reasonable time to have an addition to the family, although we do recall the comments of well-meaning individuals that it was, er, a little soon.
In the ship world, much like the people world, families expand as the parents can afford it. In the Oceania family, it was time for Marina to have a kid sister…and last week Riviera emerged from the safety of the shipyard in Italy.
The Riviera is an identical twin in almost all respects, and in 10 days she will have a bottle of bubbly broken on her bow in front of hundreds of onlookers, which surely beats being 
exposed to (or in) a diaper change. It will happen in Barcelona, as good a place as any to break bubbly on a bow. Among the celebrities will be Cat Cora, she of Iron Chef fame and a fitting choice for the Riviera's Godmother as the flagship of an upscale cruise line that appeals to people who enjoy cuisines of the world…and who doesn't?
The introductory cruise, not to be confused with the inaugural cruise, starts Sunday in Monte Carlo and ends nine days later in Venice where, as a medium-sized cruise ship it will be more popular than the large ocean liners that are eroding the fragile ground that supports all those canals.
That cruise, which you'll be reading more about here at Cruising Done Right, will be followed by 20 more in the waters of the Mediterranean, featuring a dozen different itineraries between now and November.
That Oceania Cruises has doubled its fleet (a fifth ship, the Insignia, is on a two-year charter to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises) is a testament to the attraction of what the cruise line calls the "upper-premium category" of cruising, and a testament to what the Oceania family can afford when it comes to offspring.
And it's okay that they're only 15 months apart, and okay to call Marina and Riviera "twins."
Norwegian Dawn
7 nights
June 1, 2012
Boston (return): King's Wharf (Bermuda)
Inside: $649
Cost per day: $92
www.ncl.com