written by on 20/08/2008
The main plus point was the friendliness of the staff who really went out there way to help. The cabins were very comfortable with the air conditioning and were cleaned frequently. The showers and wash facilities were good also.
For me overall the entertainment wasn't up to much - cheesy music in my view and karaoke on most nights. There was a casino and cinema on board though I didn't visit often. They did have a comedian on a few nights, I saw one guy and he was really funny - he liked to take the mickey out of some people but maybe not everyones' cup of tea...
The food was quite good but too much of the same stuff over the week - not enough variety especially at breaky time and they didn't have any brown bread (I'm fussy). The ship has 4 restaurants, 2 of them you have to pay in. One restaurant is stamped by James Martin and the food there is tremendous with the prices good for the quality of food (we paid 125 £ for 6 with drinks included though a few on water). It's pretty much 24 hrs eating available if you want it as there is always one or more restaurants open.
The big down side in my opinion was the prices attached to the OV tours at the stop-off destinations and they didn't offer any assistance / advice for those who wished to do there own thing. OV did what they could to get you to part with more cash through their tours. For example, in Tunis, they charged 24 £ to take you on a bus to a beach which was 5 minutes away. Beforehand, OV didn't let on that you could walk to the beach. This was the theme for all stop off jaunts.
The destination tours themselves were way overpriced in my view for what you got. The tour guides tried their best but we just couldn't really follow all of what they said due to the large sizes of the groups and the very limited visiting time available.
The deck every morning / afternoon was mobbed with sun bathers all crammed in like sardines! The captain had to come over the tannoy on the 1st day asking people not to leave towels over the deck chairs.
I think this cruise would appeal to families more than anything as it's more kid orientated but for a twentysomething I'd give it a miss. You can get so much more for your money and see so much more if you organised a trip yourself and that would be my recommendation.
In summary:
BUTLINS ON A BOAT in my opinion.
I was glad to come home.
written by cmpdiane on 08/02/2008
This cruise ship advertises itself as a cruise for those who don't like cruising. In my humble opinion, if you do like cruising do not go near this ship! I hope that we were just unlucky and this was a one off incident.
In short the cruise ship itself was spacious and modern, the service minimal, the passengers awful.
written by ward clerk on 25/01/2008
We felt a little let down by the on board repetitiveness of the entertainment and the food (although it was good) was also very repetitive, I felt as though we where on a "Butlins" holiday with the "Red Coats" doing all the entertaining! Also the Bingo prize was at most £550.00 last year it was £1000.00 but the tickets cost the same. I did not agree with one of the in-door bars being allowed to smoke (as this was the only bar with a sport TV this became out of bounds to Non Smokers once again)! Should this ship not be under the same British smoking rule as the public areas on main land?
written by blongb on 18/12/2007
I would like to add that Ocean Village also missed Tendering us ashore at Catalena Island in the Dominican Republic on her way out to Jamaica. I wonder how many shore trips will be missed by the end of the season
written by on 14/12/2007
I was on the Nov/Dec 2007 Reggae and Rainforests/Tequila and Toucans tour. Note Roatan and Belize City have uneven roads, open sewers etc if you roam independently be careful of these.
You will probably be hassled a lot by sellers in Roatan.
If a cruise port is popular with other lines, you'll most likely have to go ashore by tender, if at all.
We missed out on the key ports of Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman as the Ocean Village was unable to dock, even though we were overtaken by another cruise line who did dock at Grand Cayman and we saw three other ships do so.
I definitely will not cruising with Ocean Village again.
written by blongb on 08/12/2007
we have just come home from ocean village one's repositioning cruise from Southampton to Jamaica. It was our second time onboard, and given the age and power of the ship there are going to be a lot of disappointed travellers on her this year.
written by sailorsam101 on 31/07/2007
My wife and i have just returned from out Honeymoon aboard Ocean Village so I have decided to paint a true and honest picture of what we found.
So please do read my review and if you disagree with anything let me know. I have tried to be fair and honest here.
To sum up we were both very disappointed with the overall experience. Some aspects are very very good but some are not. I shall detail them all below.
So overall our experience was poor...great boat...but poorly run with a mind for money all the time at the guests expense. We will cruise again but not with Ocean Village..!!
written by ken5110 on 09/05/2007
Just back from an Ocean Village Cruise and sadly I have to say of the 10 cruises we have been on, this was by far the worst. The food was the biggest disappointment, I appreciate that self service buffet style may not always be piping hot but it was for the most part lukewarm, only on the odd occasion did it come up to par. The quality was also poor, a lot of the food was of the processed variety, or deep fried, obviously for ease of preparation and they had obviously misplaced their potato peeler we didn't have mash once, just a variety of deep fried, wedges, croquettes or very greasy chips. The pasta dishes were the worst I have ever had, usually not having any sauce or if they did it was bland and tasteless. Of course never hot, really disgusting, one exception was the lasagna, it was excellent so they were obviously capable if they tried. What happened to the lovely roasts we have so enjoyed on Ocean Village 1, we had a roast dinner on the Sunday and it was so bloody that I doubt it was safe to eat, most people gave it a miss for fear of being unwell. We didn't think much of the entertainment either, on the whole very amateurish, the exception being The Elton John tribute act, which was excellent. That was more than could be said for the girl impersonating Kylie, she worked hard to entertain but sadly she just didn't sound like Miss Minogue, the circus acts too were good but their appearances were all too brief for us. Finally I come to the ship itself, it was simply not ready for passengers, we certainly seem to have had it slightly better than those who sailed from Southampton on the passage to Palma cruise. At least we didn't break down and whilst they did receive £100 per person on board credit, I doubt this totally compensated for everything they had endured. We feel that a ridiculous amount of money, which should have surely been spent on sorting out all the very obvious failings on this ship, was used to create a luxury state of the art spa. Undoubtedly the spa was very impressive but on chatting to fellow passengers they were either not interested in this facility or were put off by the outrageous prices for treatments. We enjoyed the break from work and apart from La Goulette, liked all the ports we visited but could not recommend this ship to anyone. It has a long way to go to come up to the standard of Ocean Village 1, on which we have cruised twice.
written by ulemans on 29/11/2006
We travelled with Ocean Village in 2004 and it was pretty good then but we feel it has really gone down hill. This was booked as a birthday treat for my husband. Thomas Cook managed to cripple him on the outbound flight by allocating him a seat with a box fixed restricting the legroom, so he had to sit lopsided for the 8 hour 40 minute flight. He ended up with a bad back. He had to try and share some of my leg-space which was not exactly good for me either. The Cabin was a complete let down after paying in excess of £3000 for a CC grade cabin on A deck. We found it unbearably noisy, starting at 5am in the morning through to the early hours the next day. You really thought people were coming through the ceiling. We were hoping for rest and relaxation and got the complete opposite. While we were on board we also spent £1200 on vastly overpriced excursions, only three of which where any good. They must employ excellent writers to describe these tours as very few matched up to the brochure and we went on a lot of them, mainly to get off the ship. They nearly always left late but we always got back on time or early. Try not to go on too many Best of Tours as you will be shown mostly schools, hospitals, police stations etc. We found out the hard way it really is better and cheaper to get a taxi and tell them exactly what you want to see. Drinks on board are hardly cheap considering everything is meant to be tax free. You only have to sit down for two seconds and you are being plagued by waiters offering you a drink and when you are asked every 10 minutes or so it gets a bit tedious. I think for a total holiday price including excursions, on board account etc. of over £5000 it was the worst value for money holiday ever.
written by femaleofthespecies on 29/12/2005
On board Ocean Village from 13 Dec to 27th 05. Had 3 days at sea instead of 2-extremely boring! Norovirus on board so atmosphere not good. Bad food, bad entertainment. Plus points good schedule for ports of call. Taxis will do most of the tours just walk outside the port, half the ships price. The few tours I did through the ship were good albeit expensive and quite short. Swimming with dolphins can be booked over the internet look up Tortola and Isle Margarita its half the price of the ship. If you just want a basic cruise and are prepared to put up with bad food and can motivate yourself to get off the ship everyday and organise your own excursions and see some fab places fine but do not expect a great experience on board unless you are up for a booze cruise and like Butlins style entertainment and food!
written by Neal Potter on 06/01/2005
Having cruised many times. we chose Ocean Village because it could introduce our grown up children to cruising.
The overall holiday was disappointing. Whilst the food was good, the entertainment, with the exception of the odd comedian was very poor and took place in venues were it was impossible to view comfortably. There were some horrendous acts and repetitive music. The concept of DJs acting as hosts gave rise to much drivel and no personality. I like all forms of music but there is only so much Rik Astley I can take.
However, they did try to do sail-away parties on deck which is something that their parent brand (P&O) have never been any good at. But the lack of personality on the entertainment staff allowed the events to sink.
Bar staff and waitresses were much more in tune with the passengers and provided the personality on board.
The cabins on Ocean Village (which is P&Os old Arcadia) are a good size but badly decorated and like much of the rest of the ship look tired. The concept of Ocean Village has not been taken far enough. Whilst a couple of new bars suit the younger audience there is still a lot of the old decaying Arcadia in evidence.
What really annoys me about Ocean Village and P&O is there attempt to sell a brand experience and then not deliver. For example they both chose to transport their customers on cheap and nasty charter flights. I expect to pay for drinks and peanuts when flying on Easy Jet but not when I've been inundated with glossy brochures and paid a reasonable fare. Aircraft seats are broken, fold away tables are broken and headset connections don't work. And the airline staff stick to a timetable to suit them and not their passengers. Yuk.
This was a Christmas and new year's cruise and I have to say that the atmosphere was disappointing. From decorations to entertainment it was all very flat. And whilst the food was excellent, having to queue for your Christmas dinner was the nearest thing to a pantomime we saw.
Like P&O the Ocean Village excursions/action ashore are expensive and can be done at a quarter of the cost outside the dock gates by anyone with a bit of initiative
Written on: 28/07/2005
blimey havent they repaired the aircraft seats/Headphones and foldaway tables yet, this must have been the same aircraft we flew in from Birmingham in November and the staff were by far the rudest we have ever flown with (Thomson Fly)ex Britannia B767 aircraft
Written on: 22/02/2006
The broken seats/faulty headphone sets etc were on the Thompson Fly B767 aircraft from Birmingham didnt the Thomas Cook flights start from London area ? obviously newer aircraft, would probably still do it again though.
Written on: 22/02/2006
Travelled by Thomas Cook Airline Jan/Feb 2006.
Used a A300 aircraft, adequate legroom, seat back video. Not aware of broken seats etc.
Still pay for drinks, but you do get a free bottle of water! Overall it was little different to my experience of any other cattle class transatlantic flight
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332263_Patz4Catz's Response to blongb's Review
Written on: 19/12/2007
I agree with this review because...we were on the same cruise and this was also our experience .