P & O - Oceana

#1 (**permalink**) August 31st, 2005, 10:00 AM

Hi all,
We are booked on the Oceana for a Caribbean trip later this year & was wondering if anyone can give me some info on what to expect from this ship ie - cabins, balconies, food & entertainment / entertainers etc.

We have booked cabin A343 & have never sailed with P&O before, I don't know quite what to expect. Going by photo's I've seen on various websites, it seems the balconies are totally enclosed unlike the Island Princess which we sailed with last year when the balconies were all partially uncovered.

Any info would be appreciated & if anyone can give me a link to any photographs of the Oceana, that would be great.

Cheers

#2 (**permalink**) September 4th, 2005, 07:16 PM

Hi there,
I have been on the Oceana twice: the Oceana Atlantic crossing in November 2003 from Southampton to the Caribbean and then again in December 2004 on a Caribbean cruise from Barbados. It's a lovely ship and you can find lots of information about it on the P&O website www.pocruises.com. You could also try uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/welovecruising where most of the P&O fans seem to congregate
P&O is an excellent cruiseline, I would say on a par with Princess. It's probably 99% British people. Food excellent. Entertainment better than Celebrity or Princess which are the only other companies I can compare with. The cabins are also of the same standard.
Regarding the balconies, they are not fully enclosed - just a railing to stop you falling overboard.
The only complaint I had last year was that they started putting up Christmas decorations during our cruise but not for us - they were for the next cruise. On the last night in Barbados the ship was totally dead, even the bar on deck was shut - it was as if they couldn't wait to get rid of us so that they could welcome their Christmas cruisers on board!
I'm a little bored with P&O at the moment and want to try different cruiselines such as Costa, Norwegian and perhaps Holland America.
I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time - you can't really go wrong with P&O.
.

#3 (**permalink**) September 5th, 2005, 06:48 AM

Thanks Neelie....your info is much appreciated, especially since we are doing the same cruise in December (we fly home from Barbados on Christmas Eve). I was a bit dismayed to read about the last night in Barbados though, so we could probably expect the same!! Maybe a few people have complained after last year & they just might change things around for this year. Here's hoping.

Thanks again.....

#4 (**permalink**) September 5th, 2005, 06:59 PM

We flew home from Barbados on or around 20th December but as you're going to be on the ship so near to Christmas there should be a better atmosphere and some celebrations. Surely they wouldn't save everything for the passengers embarking on Christmas Eve (which I assume is the case).

I haven't looked in this year's brochure but if the ship is docked in Barbados for the whole day before you leave (which it was in our case) then an alternative to spending the night on the Marie Celeste would be to go into town on the last night. It's not far by taxi.

By the way, regarding your other post, I don't think this particular category gets many readers. The P&O website also has a very good message board and people are very helpful so you could find out more on that site. You can also arrange to meet people on board if you want!

#5 (**permalink**) November 10th, 2005, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Hi there,

And why the hell would one want to do something like that...please tell me....

Lombard · #6 (**permalink**) November 10th, 2005, 04:27 PM

What?
plate170 can you please clarify your last post?

kandajones · #7 (**permalink**) November 20th, 2005, 05:31 AM

Hi there, we've just dropped in to this site, and saw your message re Oceana. As Neelie has suggested, you may want to try the P&O site, the home page is pocruises.com, which has links to the forums, or the direct link is http://www.pocruiseconnections.co.uk.

There are several sections, each listed under the main banner, but the 2 taht may be of help are Message Board, which has general exchanges of thoughts (but can be slow & at times rather pointless), and On Board Forum, which has subsections by ships, locations, dress code, entertainment etc.

If you open up the ships section, you will find all the P&O ships, including Oceana where there are several opinions listed by (mainly) Brits who have travelled on her.

We've only done a couple of short breaks, so it wouldn't be fair for us to comment. But as we understand it, she hasn't changed much from her days as Ocean Princess.

Take a look, and if you have any questions pop a message on the message board there & we'll all try & help.

Have a GREAT cruise,

Alan & Katrina

kandajones · #8 (**permalink**) November 20th, 2005, 05:38 AM

On the cruiseconnections message board, we tend to use photosite to post our pictures, there are a few of Oceana at http://npercival1.photosite.com/cruise2005/

The onboard shots start on page 4, & you can either page through them, or view as a slide show.

best wishes,

Alan & Katrina

pringle8 · #9 (**permalink**) November 21st, 2005, 06:36 AM

Thanks for the info......& I've already viewed your pictures (several times), thanks for that. I noticed the chairs on your balcony were the big ones with the padded covers.....are these on all balconies? I thought it would have just been the "normal" white plastic chairs on the balconies.

Cheers

kandajones · #10 (**permalink**) November 21st, 2005, 04:38 PM

Hi again, as far as I'm aware, most of the balconies have the larger well padded reclining seats, but I believe some of the smaller ones just have the white upright chairs.

The only problem with the padded seats is that they do then restrict the amount of space left for any sort of table or extra seat.

Alan