Oceania Insignia

When You Get It, You Get It

How Studio DADO, a hospitality design firm established in 2016, walked into a meeting with a small project and walked out with a key role in a $100 million re-inspiration of an entire brand.

Re-inspiration in design is a fresh perspective on art proven to be moving, original, and, most of all, functional. Miami-based hospitality design firm Studio DADO mastered a “re-inspiration of classic elegance” in their work onboard Oceania Cruises, and did so in an unprecedented two-week time frame.

In their quest for “elegance, luxury, and uncompromised quality,” Oceania Cruises set up a meeting with the fairly new, yet reputable and experienced team at Studio DADO.

As part of their new refurbishment initiative, Oceania Cruises sought an elevated look that embodied the pinnacle of customer experience they tirelessly strive for. They yearned to convey a constant aura of care and approachable opulence to customers who have associated the Oceania Cruises name with a first-class sailing experience since 2002.

Enter Studio DADO, the young Miami-based hospitality design studio, tasked with conceiving and delivering a product in the form of 9 impeccably designed public rooms onboard Oceania Cruises’ 684-guest ships Regatta, Insignia, Sirena, and Nautica. DADO’s mission was simple, but also far from it. The team of talented and tenured designers listened as Oceania Cruises communicated a need to not just meet standards of luxury and comfort, but to set entirely new ones. What happened at that meeting made history.

Somehow, a 9-room project transformed into a 342-staterooms and suites project, where each space was stripped down to steel and started from scratch. Oceania Cruises was craving a change, and in that meeting, it became clear that when you get it, you get it. DADO got it.

The OceaniaNext Initiative, a re-inspiration that preserves Oceania Cruises’ core values of timeless comfort and luxury but sparkles with the DADO touch, was born. In the words of Oceania Cruises President and CEO Bob Binder, “They don’t build ships like these anymore.” This is precisely why Studio DADO was such a perfect fit. The visions of designers Yohandel Ruiz, June Cuadra, and Jonathan DaCruz were enlisted to heighten the ambiance, enrich the amenities, and deepen guest comfort – without turning a brand who knows who they are into something they’re not.