We sailed Nov 29th, 2005 on a 2 week caribbean cruise with our 2 children - aged 9 & 10.
Flight over was okay, seating narrow and a bit short on leg room. Food was quite good and they had a bottle of cold water on each seat upon boarding which was welcome. Flight took less time than expected, so that was a bonus too.
Embarkation is excellent - OV have this down to a T.
When we arrived at our cabin on B deck the bathroom hadn't been fully cleaned. This was remedied quickly by our maid, amidst many apologises. However, I didn't feel the ship was as clean as everyone says. There were a lot of scuff marks that would wash off easily and having heard they ship had been recently refitted I did wonder where. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't dirty, maybe 'tired' is a better description.
We ate in Plantations every meal bar one. We tried the Waterfront - it was awful. The service was diabolical. We bought a bottle of chilled wine as we entered, but didn't get glasses for it until we were on our desserts, and the wine was now warm :( We also felt there was no atmosphere here or a chance to speak to fellow passengers because of the table layout. The food in Plantations was fairly good. We found it too spicy at times too, but there is so much of it you'd struggle not to find something to eat. The Norovirus apparently came on via the Manchester flight that arrived the same day as us. We didn't hear about this for a couple of days. The only real difference it made was that your food was served to you. Most staff were great about this, some had faces like wet weekends, but they must have been bored. One thing annoyed us and that was if we clearly asked for say one slice of meat, they'd dollop several on your plate - this caused a lot of wasteage. The choices did reduce as the days went on. Most dairy products were removed. Salads were put in bowls and were brown and at times there was a lack of staff at drink stations (if they were open). However, I think the ship coped extremely well with containing the virus. The cabin next to ours was affected, but we weren't and I think that speaks volumes.
Our kids went to the Kids Club during the second week, but were not asked to gel their hands once - I found this a bit worrying.
Overall the staff were friendly and helpful. We witnessed a few people being rude and getting upset. There was no need as from what we heard often the problem was not the ships/staff! Chill, you're on holiday. The only places we had 'problems' with staff were at the bar where you get ice-creams off the kids cards. They were REALLY slow and one waiter in the drinks booth at Plantations was a bit of a 'jobsworth'.
The entertainment was okay to good. As we were with kids we didn't go to any shows, but often caught parts of them. We enjoyed Frisbee, the tribute acts for Hot Chocolate and Neil Diamond. The Moon Show was okay. Apparently there is a story line? I also felt it was a bit manic for no reason. We felt the panto was aimed at children, not that there were many there, but a few of the cast stood out because they were good.
We played with the giant chess on deck a lot. However, we couldn't play draughts as there were only 8 pieces and they were all black. We also found the basketball net on the top deck had a lot a poorly repaired holes - things like this made it appear 'tired'.
Initially we didn't know which pool we could use with the kids. Both had signs up saying they weren't for children, but after enquiring with staff we found the correct one. Yes, they are too small and if anyone is boisterous the rest of the guests are affected. Teenagers were the worst offenders, and this was even with their parents present.
The islands were great. The locals are friendly and polite and we never encountered any problems. We did a couple of trips through the ship. Glass bottomed boat in Tobago - a waste of time, as is this port IMO. I don't think this was the 'ships fault'. We did Whale Watching on Dominica and were a little disappointed when the crew turned on the party music - gladly no one was after that, but it was a bit boring just floating waiting for the whales to resurface (yes we did see some!). We really enjoyed Isla Margarita, especially the La Restinga tour (again through the ship). It poured with rain the whole day, but it was a great tour and we had fun shopping at the pier afterwards.
We found St Maarten disappointing, not the shopping haven everyone made out and Mayreau had some serious sanitation issues. The other ports were all great, and eventhough we've been before with Thomsons on the Emerald we enjoyed showing our children the islands and would still like to return.
For the flight back we were taken to the airport too early really, so it was a long wait. The flight was not comfortable to sleep on - none of us did.
Would we cruise with OV again? Possibly. We chose them because they have 'freestyle' dining which is essential with younger children and they did so many islands. Was it good value for money? Yes, how else can you see 11 caribbean islands for the money you pay?!

We sailed with Ocean Village from 28th November - 13th December 2005. As we read a variety of reviews to prepare ourselves for the cruise we thought it was best that we submitted one ourselves.

Flights - we got window seats on our own for the outward and return flight so we were happy. It was nice not having to queue for your luggage as well as you are transferred straight from the plane to the ship.

Embarkation - this was very organised and we were on the ship very quickly, although the photo we had after 12 hours of travelling wasn't the best! Needless to say we didn't purchase it.

Cabins - we were in an inside cabin which was very comfortable. Would probably have an outside one if we travel again as it was strange waking up in the dark every morning. Facilities included free tea & coffee every day, fridge, TV with movies as well as the web cam (we used this to gauge what the weather was like each day!) and a power shower. Cabin was cleaned each day with fresh towels. We did find some litter under the bed which wasn't ours, but this didn't particularly bother us.

Food - 2 days in to the cruise we were alerted about some Manchester passengers that had contracted Norovirus and as such we weren't allowed to help ourselves to any of the buffet food. We were impressed that they'd acted immediately and had hygiene as a top priority. This probably helped speed up the service as the queueing was more orderly.

Plantations - out of the 2 buffet restaurants we dined here the most as the food choice was generally more to our taste. This included asian, indian, mexican, american, etc. The food was varied, plentiful and warm enough.

Waterfront - had breakfast here most days, and again, as in the Plantation there was plenty of choice and the food was nice enough for what you'd expect from buffet style.

La Luna - we'd fancied dining under the stars so booked a table for 1 night each week. The food was very nice, service excellent (always a smile) and for an additional charge of £5 each, was well worth it. It was very windy the second night and started to rain, however the staff acted quickly and moved us under shelter.

Bistro - for an extra £12.50 each you have to try the Bistro. We had 1 visit each week and loved it. The food is fantastic and for a la carte it was very filling. Menu's are varied, ambience was just right and the service was excellent. Wine was pretty good too. Very impressed!

Entertainment - a lot is said about the entertainment and we'd expected it to be very poor from the reviews we'd read. It was not as we expected. Comedians were hilarious and interacted with the crowd. The sets they did were also varied so you could see them on more than one occasion in the week. The singers and bands were also good and Maria loved Itchy Feet.

We watched a few of the shows - Zac Beauman stood out with his tribute to the rat pack. The moon show was good if not a little cheesy. Acrobatics were excellent.

Islands - our main reason for the cruise was the ability to see 11 islands in 2 weeks and so we thought we should write a little bit about these:

As this was our first cruise we decided that we would book all our trips with OV's action ashore before we went as we preferred to have a guarantee that we were able to do the trips and we generally picked the more specialist activities anyhow.

Antigua - we booked on the Wave Riders trip. This was a motorised dingy and was excellent. We went out into the sea and along the coast of Antigua to a small secluded beach where we snorkelled for a while before heading back, passing through mangroves on the way. The guides were excellent and very funny. For the first trip we couldn't complain about riding our own boat at 30 - 40 mph along stunning coastline at 30 degrees! The definition in the booklet doesn't do it justice.

Dominica - Aerial Tram & Trafalgar Falls - this was very interesting. We were driven to the Falls and Aerial Tram with the guide talking us through the history of the island. We stopped for photo's at the Falls before moving on to the aerial tram. The tram, although very slow was nice and it was worth the trip just to ride over the 300 foot gorge. We walked back along the suspension bridge and rejoined the tram for the trip back and lunch. There was a nice market near the port, although we were there on a Saturday and it was too busy for us.

Grenada - we did the jeep adventure in Grenada and loved it. This island had been hit by a hurricane in 2004 which had destroyed a lot of the buildings. The jeep took us through several of the small village communities which gave us an insight in to how poor the country was. The sulphur pond was lovely and warm and the guides fished at Grand Etang using broken biscuits and their bare hands! Obviously no fish were harmed by this!! The port here wasn't very nice.

Isla Margarita - we did the Dolphin Discovery and again we enjoyed this. It rained all day in Maragrita and so in this respect we did the right thing swimming with dolphins! We got to be fin pulled by the dolphins which was the reason Maria wanted to do this!

Tobago - South Island Sightseeing - although this was pretty cheap (£26 each), we weren't very impressed with the tour and in hindsight would probably do something different. We saw a few of the sights including the Waterwheel which had a lovely restaurant attached to it. The guide was a glorified taxi driver and didn't talk to us about the island! Would recommend doing this trip independently.

Barbados - we booked the Sunset Sailaway but numbers were low so this was cancelled. Instead we took a taxi to the Oval cricket ground where they are currently refurbishing in preparation for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, then on to Trafalgar Square where we had a short walk to the beach to spend all day topping up the tan! Started raining on the way back.

Week 2

Tortola - Baths of Virgin Gorda - these were intirguing with the huge boulders and little coves. The beach was lovely here and the boat ride across, although windy, was scenic. After returning we decided to find Pusser's for something to eat. I'd recommend the Chicken Jerk wrap if you do go! Rained a little towards the end of the day.

St Maarten - we caught a water taxi over to the beach and sunbathed for the day. We thought this was the nicest port with plenty of souvenir and jewellery shops and the beach was gorgeous with plenty of watersports. There is a little street running parallel to the beach which had a lot of nice shops as well.

St Kitts - we booked the Quad Biking and rated this as the best trip we did. The bikes are much harder to ride than we'd initialy thought as you have to control gears (I thought they'd be rev & go!), however once we'd had a little drive around this became second nature. The trip lasted a good hour and a half and they took us through fields and a lot of rough terrain which made the trip more enjoyable. For saying Maria was dreading this, you couldn't shut her up talking about it afterwards! (One for the girls). The house we went back to had 2 newborn monkeys as well as 1 a few months old. They loved clinging to Maria's top and were difficult to get off when we left. Needless to say we have several pictures of this!

St Lucia - Land & Sea adventure - this trip was excellent. We had the fortune of having the minibus ride in the morning, where we were taken to see the Pitons, which were very impressive. Be warned you'll need a hard stomach for the drive in volcano as the smell is very powerful! It was well worth it to see the volcano though. We then went through the botanical gardens (not really our cup of tea but was nice) to the waterfall. Lunch was terrible, the food was disgusting and they ran out half way through lunch but don't let this put you off the day trip. In the afternoon we boarded a catamaran and sailed back along the coast towards OV. We stopped at a beach for swimming and snorkelling as well as sailing into Marigot Bay, which is beautiful and somewhere we would probably stay for a 2 week holiday. There was free rum punch which livened up the journey back and everyone on was very friendly.

Mayreau - we sunbathed all day as this was our last day to top up the tan. The beach is OV's for the day and was lovely. Try and get out early though as it took us a while to get a sunbed. Perfect way to end a great holiday!

Oh, I forgot to mention the bars!

Blue Bar was very relaxing and we had a couple of beers here after dinner before going to see the entertainment.

Oval - didn't spend a lot of time in here as there was generally not a lot happening! Typical English boozer (but on a cruise ship).

Connexions - most of the entertainment was here and as such we spent most evenings here. Got very busy and as we tended to arrive later after dinner found it difficult to get a decent seat. Get there early but be warned, on comedy night do not sit near the front as those that did got hammered by the comedians!

Marquee - saw a few shows here and was pleasant enough. As above on comedy night do not sit near the front. One guy got hammered by 2 comedians on the same night while sitting at the front. However, he did have a balding head with a ponytail so probably deserved it!

Casino - had a flutter and lost £50 in half hour - enough said!

Charlie's - coffee bar - do nice latte's.

Bayside - ok for a late drink but very cheesy!

Age range of passengers tended to be late 30's/ early 40's but there were a few people our age and a few much older. The passengers seemed pleasant enough although there are always exceptions which we tried to ignore!

Overall, loved the cruise and would recommend it.

Well we arrived it seems at the time of the Norovirus and it stayed for our whole 2 weeks. Despite my husband catching the bug and being confined to cabin for 48 hours, I can honestly say this was a fantastic holiday. This virus could be bought onto any ship at any time and we were just unfortunate. The ship's crew worked relentless to keep the virus to a minumum and were often found working very hard during the night (as we found on our way back from Bayside at ungodly hours!). No wonder the staff looked tired...they were working very long shifts..but never did they fail to help in any way they could.

Despite having to be served in the restaurant - the food was fantastic-available 24hours and plenty of it!

The excursions were well worth their money - and must be done!

As for the entertainment team - what stars! Particularly Anthony Ward - I could have sat and listened to him for ever! A star waiting to happen.

We have been on many cruises and this is by far the best run ship I have been on.

Thank you OV - we'll see you soon

This was our second time on the ship and we would certainly go again. It is very hard to find any fault apart from the entertainment was slightly less good this year than the previous year.
The food is superb with excellent choice all day long.
The staff are always friendly and very helpful.
Cabins are large and very well equipped.
Dont book excursions through Ocean Village as there are always loads of local Taxis waiting for you on arrival and will do all the trips and places for a fraction of the cost - typically a quarter. You can go alone or with other people from the ship.
The islands are very similar really but if you want to shop for electricals or perfume/jewellery St Martin is the place.

Ship cleanliness-can not fault, constantly being cleans 24/7.

Food- We found the choice of food perfect and the 24 hour buffet was good asides from the 4 pounds gained!

Staff/Entertainment-We were very impressed with the entertainment considering the bad reports given by other travelers. There was something to suit everyone from the wonderful anthoney ward for the ladies to the beautiful portia danielle for the men (my husband included!) even a panto for the kids. we had a wonderful time and definaly will be coming back again.

i did the 2 weeks xmas and new year cruise, a deck with balcony only so i had more space for the children.i have sailed on ov prev on stay and cruise in babados 1 wk . 1 wk on ov.enjoyed it that much we had 2 weeks on ov.my wife and daughter are beech and shoppers ,my son and i like mountain biking and hiking so ov suits us really well as a family.food is excellant and a good choice for all palets. we mainly dined in the waterfront and lunce in the plantations.the ships crew are excellant and cannot be faulted. the vassell is well maintained and is of a high standard and well managed safely and proffessionly .im not worried about entertainment , idont travel halfway around the world to see home entertainment .i like to see local culture and you certainly see that mountain biking. we cycled over 90 miles, in 4days grenada, tortola,margarita,babados, superb thanks yohnnis and steve. best holiday i have ever had . best trip ,riding a harley davidson motorbike on the island o of st maartens ,this was the iceing on the cake. point to remember when you visit some of these islands you have to except there cultures and ideis are differant to what you might expect.accept this and enjoy yourseles!theres a world out there. see you next year ov, a very happy ship....

This was our 3rd cruise with OV.Totally lived up to previous expectations BUT although it had a refit in April/May I must say we preferred the colour scheme of the cabins as they were previously!The ship is very clean and the cabin staff are heros,they work long hours but are always very friendly and helpful.The food is EXCELLENT. Plenty of choice and of high standard.The staff are friendly and Maralyn(entertainment) makes going to the activities worthwhile,one crazy gal!The entertainment this time was not as good as previously . Partia Danielle is AWFUL, but Mia Carla was fantastic.Always joined in with the "cruisers" and didnt mind making an ass of herself!This was a transatlantic cruise with a week around the caribbean and are already booked for April and November 2006

EXCELLENT ALL ROUND

Our second cruise on Ocean Village. We did 1 week in February because we had not cruised before. We were so impressed that we booked to go in November within 6 weeks of our return to the UK. Apart from wishing that we could be teleported to Barbados, but hey, you know what you're letting yourself in for with the flight length. The transition from plane to ship is smooth and hassle free, the luggage arrives to your cabin as if by magic. As soon as we got on board we headed for the Plantation restaurant and fuelled up. Only one gripe about the choices of food, (they offer 2 menus each night) on 2 nights both options were spicy types, not much use if like me you are not into spicy food. The staff on board the ship are with out doubt amazing. Mostly Phillipino but have very good English skills and are amazingly friendly and in some cases extremely talented - One of the barmen in Connections can do magic tricks and sings a very good Barry White take off. Wasted in a bar on a ship! Our cabin hostess was very friendly and very good. A lovely waitress in Plantation befriended us and went well out of her way to ensure that we were comfortable and had all we needed whenever we dined there. Downside - Norovirus took a grip on the second week. Reports were that it had come in on the Manchester flight, but rumour has it that it was on board already. It spoiled the 2nd week for us as we were served everything by the waiters and waitresses and the queues were awful. We understand that the bug needed to be contained and the staff on board worked extra long hours to make sure that this happened. Handrails were polished 2 - 3 times a day, people who were infected had room service with staff kitted out in masks, disposable gloves and plastic overshoes. Laundry from infected cabins was placed in pink plastic sacks and taken to a seperate laundry. In conclusion we really enjoyed our cruise but would recommend P & O to remove St Kitts and Isla Margarita from the itinery. The cruise daily newspaper advised that US$ would be widely accepted on Isla Margarita - forget it they are not. The stalls at the dockside will, but the only large shopping centre on the island will only accept Venezuelan Bolivars. Our taxi driver and guide bought our lunch for us and we re-imbursed him with US$ - got ripped off big style! The only reason I have said that we would not sail on the ship again is because I asked my husband if I was becoming a snob or were there some awful people on board this ship - his answer................ No and Yes.

This was my first cruise, and i was very disappointed, the entertainment was rubbish, apart from jackie graham, the food was disgusting, i livd on cheese and crackers for a week, it was the same food all the time and it was lukewarm, i hated the ports hey stopped at the cities where filthy so if u never wanted to get off the boat, u where forced to anyway as everything shut on the boat, the staff where very sad looking,and it made me very depressed, so it was not worth the money.......