Just returned from 1 week cruising the western Mediterranean on the Tapas & Togas cruise.

Cabin (C135)
Everything we could have asked for, in a “hotel room” style cabin. We chose an outside cabin on C deck with a large picture window. The room consisted of a small bathroom with brilliant power shower, a vacuum toilet (like on aeroplanes) and sink with vanity mirror cabinets for all your bits and pieces. Bath and hand towels were provided. Outside the bathroom was a walk-in dressing storage area with 8 drawers, plenty of hanging space with hangers provided and a large space for you to store your suitcases. An additional cupboard housed your lifejackets and an electronic safe (FOC). Our bedroom had been configured to a queen bed configuration but it was basically two single beds pushed together. A sheet with a throw was provided and extra blankets were available in the room should you need it. The only downside of this was they had tried to put a double fitted sheet on to two single beds and every time you got into bed, the sheet would ping off the corners. A bit annoying as I would wake up some mornings sleeping on the mattress. A bedside table with a lamp contained another 4 drawers and at the other side a dressing table, another 4 drawers and tea/coffee making facilities. The table contained a hairdryer. Be warned, there is only one socket available, but I took a 4 gang extension cable and this suited me fine. A small armchair with coffee table finished the room off and I was very pleased with the size.

Ship facilities
Two pools, one for adults only with a swim up bar and 4 Jacuzzi pools. Lots of sun beds, most people caught their rays on the top deck but I found my area on deck 7 panorama deck as when I was too hot, I could pull my sun bed back into the shade. This was difficult to do on the top deck. There are certain areas on the ship that suffer from a lot of vibration and were annoying when I was trying to read a book. The main areas I found were directly in front of the funnel on top deck and at the aft sun decks, much quieter as away from the pool area, but the vibration annoyed me and I ended up moving.
Five bars, Connexions bar, wine bar style with seating in cabaret style. Singers and quiz nights were very good and it did seem to be the main bar to go to. Next door was the traditional pub called the oval bar. Lots of dark mahogany wood with tables and chairs, jukebox and dart board. The 3rd bar was called The Blue Bar and I would describe this as quiet, relaxing with a live piano, the Bayside Club (late night disco) and finally The Marquee Bar (this is the show bar).
The ship also contained a casino and slot machine area, a Sega room for kids to play video games, a movie theatre (very modern and was showing movies such as Avatar whilst we were there – all free of charge (FOC)) a launderette (4 x ironing boards and irons FOC, large top loading washing machines (£3 per wash) and large dryers (£2)
The Village Square contained a few shops, but I found them basic and expensive. Lots of designer handbags, perfume, some t-shirts, but I knew I could buy the same items in the UK a lot cheaper. There was also the Photoshop. The ships photographer is always around and at every opportunity will take your photo. They are developed and put on display in the shop, if you want to buy them (6 x 8) they are £6 each. Personally, I did not find some of the photographs very professional and felt there were expensive for what they are.

Food
Amazing! We ate 6 nights in Plantation and 1 night in Waterfront. The other two restaurants require an additional cover charge. La Luna is advertised as “dining under the stars” but if you eat before 8pm, you are just in a sectioned area of the sun deck with kids jumping in an out of the pool. Not exactly the romantic evening you would wish for. We didn’t utilise the Bistro restaurant, but there was lots of promotion for it, but every time we walked past, it was nearly always empty. To be honest, the Plantation restaurant (24/7 dining) was great. The staff were very attentive, they always insisted on you wiping your hands with alcohol gel disinfectant prior to obtaining any food which was excellent and hygiene was always forefront of their work. The food was excellent, lots of choice, very fresh and hot. A choice of a variety of fresh salads, desserts and many themed nights are available. They would usually have two themes on, for instance if you didn’t like Indian food, you could have Spanish food which was lovely. Continental and full English breakfast is available every morning. Unfortunately, no matter how much you say you will eat healthily, temptation is very great and it’s difficult not to sample various foods. I have definitely come back a few pounds heavier! Tea, coffee and small glasses of tap water (orange juice also at breakfast) are free to obtain, but any other drinks are purchased using your cruise card.

Entertainment
The on board “Freedom to move” team (dancers and singers) are brilliant and we saw a show every night that involved these guys at some point. We also were lucky to see Fogwell Flax, a comedian who also is known for his spectacular sound effects he makes with just his mouth and a microphone. On a different night, he also performed a tribute to Sting & The Police and he played the guitar alongside a full band, he was amazing and sounded just like Sting and sung his greatest hits.
We were also lucky to witness the “Planets” acrobatic display using the rigging on the sun deck. The captain sailed a few miles out to sea, turned off the engines and turned the ship so the funnel blocked the wind to the acrobats. For 45 mins we were bobbing about in the ocean going nowhere whilst we were beautifully entertained by the aerialists and acrobats all with a futuristic theme. (note: If you want a seat, you will have to be sat down about 2 hours before it starts as seating is limited. )However, no matter where you stood, you always had a good view.)

Excursions
Day 1 – At sea
Day 2 – ½ day in Tunisia – we chose not to leave the ship through recommendations from friends who had been before. We spoke to some people who did visit the market and they looked somewhat traumatised! One gentleman we spoke to (in his 60s) said the taxi drivers were the worst. They would not take no for an answer (same as the market stall holders) and became quite aggressive towards him which he was obviously upset about. We are glad we did not disembark
Day 3 – Rome – We chose to do a trip called the “Best of Rome” It was £95 per person and was the most expensive trip for Rome. The trip to Rome is 1 hr 20mins by coach where you travel with your first tour guide who gives you a briefing about getting lost! He gives you a card with an emergency number. He also provides you with a radio receiver that you wear around your neck and wear an earpiece. He tests them all whilst you are travelling to Rome. You then get off and meet your second tour guide. She is very experienced and speaks into the microphone whilst you are walking around. The tour guides all hold a flag or scarf on a stick in the air and due to the group size (41 in ours) you lose sight of the tour guide and have to keep this flag in sight at all times. As there is a tight time line whilst walking from site to site, you tend to spend more time keeping your eye on the tour guide flag rather than taking in the sites you were meant to see. Rome was packed with people; August is the main time for Italian holidays. We went around and inside the Colluseum (tours are able to bypass the queues) the queue for entrance was amazing long, so if you choose to do Rome on your own, be prepared to wait. It cost £12 to enter the Colluseum if doing it on your own. After the Colluseum we were taken for a three course Italian meal. We then visited the Vatican, the Basilica, the Cystine chapel and St Peters Square, then the bus ride back to the ship. Although I found the sites fascinating, I found the tour very stressful and the fear of getting lost was very great due to the sheer numbers of people. I would not recommend this tour for very young children or people with buggies as steps and cobbles are involved, but the sheer number of people was overwhelming and spoilt the trip for me.
Day 4 – Genoa – lovely town. We chose to do the half day – tour around Genoa (which we loved) and then visited Europe’s largest aquarium. Many went to Portofino and also said it was beautiful.
Day 5 – St Raphael. – We did this on our own and we had been told by friends that there was a market on the promenade on a Sunday and the beach was walking distance. The market was huge with lots of bargains to be had.
Day 6 – Barcelona. Again we did this on our own. We only wanted to see Las Ramblas, but arrived very early. Be warned, it will depend on where the ship docks as to whether it is walking distance or not. Passengers that had been before said they were much closer previously. We chose to use the shuttle service which was £8 return. We strolled along Las Ramblas and then chose an open topped tour bus. The official (green) tourism tour bus cost £22 per person which gave you three circular tours taking in all the sights. Two of the tours took 2 hours each, whilst the 3rd took 40 mins. You could hop on and hop off along the way and your ticket was valid for the full day. Take plenty of sun block though and a hat as we fried on the top deck and abandoned the tour due to the heat.
One other tip – be wary of pick pockets. The ship does warn you that they are rife in Barcelona and very clever. Keep your passport on your person and your money closer; only take with you what you really need.

Well, think that’s about it….I have been back a week now, but missing Ocean Village already and it is a shame that she is going out to Oz in October and a full refurbishment and rebranding to “Pacific Jewel?” – I’ll miss you Ocean Village x

Ship was beginning to show it's age in certain places but a routine maintenance team was always on hand with a paint brush, spanner or whatever was needed, could not fault the cleanliness with staff always attentive to both their duties and your needs. The cabins were spacious and well serviced but in our cabin the air conditioning unit could be noisy. The food was excellent with a wide choice of menus and the sweets were exceptional, both in presentation and quality. The itinerary was good overall, many of our onshore excursions were done away from the ship's tours (something we usually do) but the few we did participate it were good value for money and on par with the costs of competitors. Onboard entertainment was mixed, the "guest" acts were on the whole okay, the tribute to Freddie Mercury was first class. As for the ship's own entertainment, the singers in the lounge/bars etc were fine but the entertainment troupe were well under par. On the whole a very enjoyable holiday and would return for a cruise on the Ocean Village again but not too long before the ship is moving to another destination ie Australia, therefore a bit far for us to go for just two weeks. Crew always ready with a smile.
Because of the snow in the UK we were delayed by 24 hours and was looked after very well, given a similar cabin as booked for the duration and all meals and soft drinks were provided.
Excellent.

Our first cruise, and the only holiday where we wished we'd booked for two weeks instead of one!

The food was outstanding. In common with most people, we ate at the free Plantation self-service restaurant most days, and we couldn't fault the food. Evenings tended to be themed (Chinese, Indian etc.) but there was always plenty to choose from, with soup, cheese and crackers, rolls etc. on the side, and the quality was first-rate. We ate in The Bistro on a couple of evenings, and that was excellent too.

Staff were very helpful and friendly, and nothing was too much trouble. I suspect they are on commission for drinks sales, as they were always at your table asking if you would like wine etc. with your meal. They were also keen on pushing the wine package deals, which worked out at £10 a bottle and above - typical rip-off restaurant prices!

We didn't pay much attention to the entertainment, but what we saw was professionally done. The singers were excellent, and we enjoyed what we saw of the open-air show.

Down-points were the price of wine, as mentioned above, and the general sell-sell-sell mentality. Shore excursions were expensive, as other people have mentioned. Piped music too loud at times, especially in The Bistro - given that the whole eating experience was meant to have been overseen by James Martin, maybe he was trying to drown out the sound of the engines?

Overall this was a great holiday - the plus points more than outweighed the minuses, and we'd have no hesitation in booking again.

This Ocean Village cruise round the Med. was my first cruise experience, and I was very impressed. Lets get rid of the gripes now. There were a few concerns, which were irritating. On day one it was quite noticeable that the floor surface around the carpet edging in the communal areas was extremely dusty. On first glance the floor looked quite shiny but where floors met walls, were literally yards of grey, which rolled into a pencil like strip of dust when I passed my shoe along the edge. Also the sheets in the cabin seemed clearly no longer white and lacked the nice fresh laundry smell, though they did appear clean and ironed. My daughter works in a Pharmacy dept for the well known High Street Chemists and so has good staff discount. We bought a good supply of water with us which we purchased at the Airports Duty Free unit from one of their stores. I was rather irritated when asked by the maid if we had drunk one of the bottles left in the room as she had put two bottles in and now there was only one. She mentioned she knew we now had water as she had looked in the fridge. I made it clear, we brought this with us and that there was only one bottle of water in the cabin when we arrived, which was left untouched as we had our own. It felt uncomfortable knowing these bottles were chargeable and that she obviously thought we had used one. My only other gripe was the fact that the darned undersheeting kept slipping off the mattress and I woke several times to find I had been sleeping on the mattress itself. This annoyed me initially but I can honestly say this was largely ignored when I settled in due to the bonuses elsewhere, and I am sure that had I asked for a larger sheet it would have been provided. I simply forgot to ask. The cabins otherwise were lovely and with plenty of room. We had outside cabins and it was a joy to see the sea views each morning and also watch the ship arriving in each port. I had not expected such a large window. It was also welcoming to have tea and coffee facilities in the cabins and very much appreciated, as I do prefer my cuppas.
The food was excellent, so don't listen to the reviews which say otherwise as they are simply not true. The food offered is faultless. Such an amazing variety, the hot meals were always hot, fresh tasting, and really appetising. The breads and rolls were always fresh. The meals were varied with well prepared vegetables, and the desserts were to die for. They were prepared so creatively, that you needed a really disciplined attitude to be able to resist the tempation of going back for another. I failed on occasions!! and I noticed I wasn't the only one. What amazed me was the exquisitely creative decorations made by certain staff, with ice carving and faces produced from melons and other fruit, plus a Gecko made from cheese as well,in an extremely clever way. These carvers deserve special mention for their creations, they were very professional. We took many photos to show folk back home. I particularly liked the special drinks cards for children and adolescents which could be bought and which covered 20 drinks at a reduced price. The cards were attached to a souvenir lanyard which the child or Y/P carried around, and the card was marked off each time they got a drink. It saved having to keep diving into a purse for change. The staff made a lot of effort to serve everyone with a smile, and were friendly and very polite, and always busy. Most of the entertainment was exceptionally talented, and what we did see of the acts was very entertaining, especially the comedian, acrobats,singers and magician. The comedian had us in stitches, and the acrobats were fantastic, so hats off to the entertainments chief for a marvellous remit well carried out. My Son-in- Law won two separate Quizzes which earned him a bottle of champagne plus two vouchers for two people to dine at The Bistro, so we all had a lovely evening sampling some of James Martin's recipes. The shore excursions were great except for the trip to Monte Carlo and Monaco. We felt this was a little rushed and hardly saw or heard much about Monte Carlo. In fairness the guide did have a bad cold. Our guide 'Pino' for the Sorrento and Amalfi tour was superb and very amusing, and the guide for Florence and Pisa was extremely knowledgeable. My favourite visit however was Ajaccio. I would most certainly sail on this ship again. I am already booked on the Sea Princess in April 2010 for the Caribbean as my grandson's College Easter leave did not tie in with Ocean Village sailing. If I can manage to get the timing right, I will make every effort to sail again before the OV leaves for Australia.
Many thanks for a wonderful experience.

Travelled from manchester on 20/04/09,good flight and on time, would recomened flight upgrade.transfer to ship went without any problems and luggage arrived ok.
this was our fifth cruise and one of the best.
ENTERTAINMENT.
We were on the ship for 21 days with 8 sea days but the entertainment was excellant with tribute acts and young singers and dancers
FOOD.
good choice of food from two buffet resurants and allso the bisro and la luna at extra cost
STAFF
all the staff work really hard long hours,but were still friendly after a long day
DOWN SIDE
shore excursions to expensive,to many photos,the average age of passingers is about 50 but a lot of excursions are for 20 year olds
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
Sorry to see ov going to oz, the total package was relly good value for money, and we will be trying to get on the last cruise next year

This is the first cruise we have done.
It was on Ocean village barbados.
We had the most fabulous holiday for a long time it is a fantastic ship with the most pleasant and helpfull staff that i have ever met.
the food was fantastic and we have not got one complaint about the whole holiday
Keep up the good work.

we travelled on ocean village, and we should hava been on deck 10, bu on arrival we were up graded to deck 4, with a porthole window (good). we were on the embarcment deck and also alot of the enginereing works were on the same floor. as i wear two hearing aids and am very hard ofhearing the noise in our cabin was that load i couldnt sleep for two nights. (i dont sleep in my hearing aids!!!) after complaining about the noise, at first they suggested moving us, but when we'd packed our clothes they refused us and asked us for proof of noise. but strangly enough the noise quitetened down (i beleive it was engineering going on through the night, which they denied and also the air vent was very very noisy)
the food was really goodbut would of been nicer if the people had of dressed a little nicer, i know it was casual, but some people could have made an effort.
i found the trips too expensive and was appauled at having to paid for the shuttle bus to the end of the dock. we found doing our own trips for doing a quater of the price was much more enjoyable and easily managed.
the morning of the fire drill:
my husband is disable and has only one leg and was not allowed to use the lift! we had to go from deck four to seven!
in the entertainment, there were only two good acts in the whole two weeks, and these were the eople who took off annie lennox and freedie mercury, from queen.
we had a meal in the james martin restaurant, which was very good value for money, but as for the other reasaurants where you had to pay, i thought this should have been included.
sometimes the tables werent cleared. unlike the other cruises i have been on, where you are designated to the same table, this one, you had to walk around with your tray to try and find a seat.
the whole cruise reminded me of butlins!
the captain of this ship was really nice and approachable, unlike the other cruises i have been on. but unfortunately as this was our first time on this ship, ocean village, im affraid we shall not be travveling with them again. hope this comment helps you decide whether to travel on the ocean village!
Sandra Horner.

We sailed on Ocean Village in April sailing the Passage to Palme cruise from Barbados to Palma. The first 3 days in the caribbean were wonderful the problems started when we set sail across the Atlantic. We have a young child and we were looking forward to using the childrens facilities on Deck 11, this deck is advertised as a family deck exclusively for the use of young children and their families, the brochure, all the literature you are given on board and all the signs on every entry point to this deck states this, this is NOT what happened. From day one of the crossing we struggled to get a seat (even a chair nevermind a sun lounger) on this deck as passengers not sailing with children used all the sun loungers, clogged up the deck with these loungers so the children could not play as they didn't have any playing space, Ocean Village provide the children with cars and trykes to sit and play on, they couldn't get around the deck as there wasn't any room. If they nugged anyones sunbed they were moaned at. If they played in the paddling pool and splashed, they were moaned at. One day our child was sworn at by a man who told our child to be quiet. This happened day in and day out my husband complained on day one it took until day 6 for Ocean Village to show any interest (yes the manager of the Base Camp childrens facilities saved the families some beds, yes she apologised everyday for our distress, but she also told us she had been told by her superiors not to move any of the other passengers without children on that deck). So why advertise a family deck, why have signs up if Ocean Village are not going to adhere to them, We had to sit on a towel on the floor one day as there were not any seats, some of the other families had to split up and have one parent with their child while they played in the paddling pool while the other family members had to sit on other decks as there wasn't any space for them. Every day we had a constant battle to get a seat every morning we watched the deck fill up with these inconsiderate passengers but lets face it if they are allowed to sit there they will Ocean Village did not do what they should do and move these people they didn't seem to care, and considering that deck is netted off and is the only safe place for young children to play you would think their priority would be to make sure that is where they are playing and not some unsafe area elsewhere on the ship. We had a meeting with the management who said they were not willing to move these passengers as there was not a full quota of children on board to warrant having this deck exclusively for families, again I say then why advertise it as that a family deck, isn't that false advertising? This is an ongoing cmplaint we are very upset and dissapppointed this "family cruise line" did not deliver that, a family cruise they were more interested in the other passengers and keeping them happy instead of the welfare of our child and the others on board.
On a lighter note the food was wonderful, the staff in the resataurants and the bar staff were lovely and always smiling and really friendly, our cabin steward Rose was lovely and she always made a fuss of our child, we ended up meeting Rose as we moved cabins due to the horrendous noise we had to endure on the first night from the bars below (Ocean Village would only do this if we paid and extra £150, what choice did we have with a small child upset and frightened). All in all we would say we preferred Ocean Village 2, we have sailed on there twice and never encountered any of the problems that we have on Ocean Village 1, its a shame Ocean Village 2 is leaving for Australia first. I would just say to all parents travelling with children, make sure you are givin the facilites advertised I am sure all was well inside Base Camp and the facilites they provide in there are great but outside on Deck 11 which is an extension of base camp they were not and we feel very let down by this.

We have just arrived back from being away for 14 days on the Ocean Village two. An amazing ship, the food was all excellent in both The Plantation and Waterfront buffets, the ship was very clean and cabin cleaned everyday, Most of the staff were brilliant, we just found the waiters serving you drinks in the evening could be a little bit pushy and didnt give you much time to sit before pouncing on you for a drink. The Onboard entertainment I have marked a little lower mainly because there was absolutely no dancing and we both love dancing, the tribute artists were fantastic, and the ships freedom2 cast were also excellent. The other problem was that because there was so many people on board when at sea, there was not enough seats to sit outside. We felt the TV in the room could of possible had BBC news or sky news, my mother had to text me that we had had an earthquake back home and so I did use the ships internet because naturally I was worried. All the ports of call were amazing, so in all we had a wonderful time, and would sail on ocean village again probably for 7 days around the med.

No problems with the flight just a small moan regarding the seats, the arms diden't lift up so we had to make a bed on the floor for our 5 year old although it diden't bother him he slept for 3 hours.

Arrived tired but this was our third time so we knew what to expect, wasen't long before we got on board OV1. This was our first time on this ship having been on OV2 the previous 2 Christmas's.

After looking round we were a bit dissapointed could tell this was the older of the two ships we thought the pool area was a bit shabby and our cabin wasen't as nice but we had a partial view this time which was good not as much storage space struggled a bit with drawer space but managed. Everything else about our cabin was fine, a really nice cleaner who coulden't do enough for you.

Food was excellent as usual, plenty of choice and always hot. Hardly ever struggled to get a table for the 3 of us, but 1 of us always waited while the other came back with food so we never left the table empty.

Entertainment was good, went on OV2 at Xmas and the entertainment was poor to say it was Xmas, but we coulden't fault this. Comedians were great especially Jason he was really funny and had us crying with laughter. Also the tribute bands were good. Tina Turner, Elton John. Just one quarm can't see the point in the freedom to move dancers the 80's show was rubbish, not my cup of tea.

Base Camp. What can I say what an excellent service. Our 5 year old wanted to spend all his time in there this time and I can honestly say we had no problem with it. Its open from 9 in the morning till 11 at night with just 1hr closing for tea. I don't know anywhere else where you get a service like that. The staff were lovely and kept them entertained all the time they even went to the cinema.

The kids swimming pool (not) was too deep, no shallow end just 6ft deep all the way round which made it difficult to play with our son as we coulden't stand up in it.

As the two weeks progress we got to like the ship and so we have booked for Xmas 09 now as well. All in all another great holiday thanks to OV and see you at Xmas. Such a shame there going to Australia we personally will be sad to see them go.