We have just got back from the Coral and Coconuts and Rum and Reggae Cruise for our Honeymoon.
I know lots of people have done reviews, but the reviews helped me a lot, so hopefully our review can help too.
We have only previously been on the Island Escape so this is all we can compare to.
I would definitely recommend OV to those who DON’T like formal cruises.
FLIGHTS: We were on the 9.45am flight from Manchester, which was the Thomas Cook A330 airbus. You have to check in 3 hours before whether you are sitting in Premium or Economy. However Premium get called first from the departure gate to board first.
There were plenty of films to choose from, I can’t remember which ones, we watched Mr & Mrs Smith, which we wanted to see but haven’t got round to seeing.
Premium seats were very comfy and well worth the extra money. They were starting to look a little grebby though, and could probably do with a re-vamp. The foot rest kept falling down by itself, and it doesn’t help if you have an annoying woman in front who is inconsiderate and puts her chair fully down!
In premium you get a travel pack which was useful on the last night as we could pack our toothbrushes and use the disposable one. In all seats a pillow, blanket and bottle of water are on your seat waiting.
In premium there is plenty of free booze if you want it. The veggie food was very nice too.
EMBARKATION: When we arrived at Barbados airport, we were straight off the plane to an air conditioned bus which is parked by the plane. It took about 20 mins to get to the port. We had to queue up at the relevant desk with the letters for your surname to receive your cruise card. Straight forward.
CABINS: I knew it was supposed to be bigger than other ships, but it was bigger than I expected. We were on Deck 6, in cabin E201. There is ample storage space for your suitcases, there are drawers, and hanging space, and extra drawers by the bed. The bathroom is bigger than I expected too. Tea and coffee making facilities are available, and a fridge. There is a TV which shows some great films.
SHIPS NEWSPAPER: Has everything you need in it, if you go off shore or stay on board. It gives you info about the next port, and shows on the ship etc. Delivered each evening.
SAFETY DRILL: You only need to attend this on your first week. It’s at 7pm, and you have to get your life jacket and go to the muster station stated on the back of your cabin door.
LAUNDRETTE: £2 a wash and £1 a dry, very good too. We took our own tablets with us, or you can buy some in the kiosk. The wash takes about 20mins and the dryer depends on how much you put in there.
INTERNET: I wasn’t going to buy any credit for the internet as I was going to look for some in the ports, but we didn’t have time. You can buy and hour for £12 instead of £15. It goes slow but still got a lot out of it.
PHOTOGRAPHER: they were there when you embark and they are usually outside the restaurants and when you get off each day in a new port. We got some really nice photos done. We went to the Nouveau portraits in our combats and t "swear", we wanted a really casual relaxed look, and the results were fantastic. They were £16.95 each, but great and worth the money.
BARS: There is something for everyone, there is Charlies bar by reception where you can get alcoholic drinks but it is mainly a café sort of bar.
Sunweaver and the splash bar are on deck 12 by the pools. Connexions always got busy early as the comedians do their acts here. The oval is based on a British pub and is fab; we watched the footie here, played cards and also took part in the quiz each day.
ENTERTAINMENT: The entertainment was good; we watched ABBA and Robbie Williams in the marquee. Some of the other acts were good too. There is plenty for all age ranges. The moon show is well worth seeing.
RESTAURANTS: I was worried with me being a vegetarian. There was plenty of food. The plantations is 24 hours and they have a themed night each night which changes every day. The only night I wasn’t impressed was the Mexican and Chinese night as there was nothing I liked or it was too spicy. We ate our breakfast here a couple of time and our tea, or sometimes snacked here. The food was lovely and hot, a couple of times it could have been a little warmer.
Waterfront has one menu and is open for breakfast and tea. We ate here a lot of the times too. Again the food lovely and hot. People moan its luke warm, but the problem is they would get their starter, main and dessert all together, so by the time they finished their starter, the main would be cold. We got ours one at a time.
La Luna, we ate here a couple of times and had the pizza at lunch. We also ate here on my birthday. The food was nice but not as nice as the Bistro.
Bistro, went here to celebrate our honeymoon, the food was out of this world, well worth paying for. We enjoyed it so much we went back again!
OTHER PASSANGERS: the only problem with this ship is the passengers. Some are so rude, and give you a funny look if you use your manners. The rest were lovely. We met couples of different ages, and met a few couple on their honeymoon too.
FLIGHTS BACK: we were a little annoyed by OV here. We were supposed to leave at 12.30 to get to the airport for our flight at 3.45pm. It was announced that we weren’t getting picked up till 5pm. I went to reception and asked what time our flight would be, they couldn’t tell us. I told them I need to know, because it will be getting late in England and they guy who was picking us up might not be able to pick us up. They were useless, once you have paid you bill, they don’t want to know you. This is the only let down. In the end we had 5 ½ hour delay, which I am writing a letter to OV about, our friend had to take half a day off work, we had to pay for the kennels for an extra day, and no one was helpful. This is the only thing which spoilt our holiday.
EXCURSIONS:
TORTOLA: we took the OV swimming with dolphins in the morning. It’s absolutely chucked it down. It was okay, something I have always wanted to do; loved the dolphins the staff were a let down. You could hardly understand them, and our group and the deep part, Mark cant swim, so I told them and asked if he could join the group standing on the ledge, all I got was, ‘I cant I have to ask my supervisor’. Mark stood there like a lemon.
Eventually they took Mark to the ledge, then our group followed and we had some more interactive time with the dolphins, in the end we had longer. Definitely not worth £95 each but glad I have done it. In the afternoon we headed for Pussers Pub, wow, the cocktails were strong! It took me and hour and a half to drink my strawberry daiquiris!
ST MAARTEN: nothing booked here; we planned to go to Maho beach in the afternoon. We went to the beach by the port in the morning as it was Good Friday and everywhere was shut. It then chucked it down again, so we went back on board for a bit. You couldn’t see anything the fog was that thick, we left Maho beach. The USS George Washington was in, which I knew before we left, so we had plenty of time to film and get photos.
The celebrity constellation was in, she was huge but I wasn’t impressed with her!
ST KITTS: OV tour booked here; Scenic Railway. Went down to the quayside and waited for ages, eventually we told there were problems with the train which they were trying to fix. They said we can get our money back or come on the 12.15 trip. We wanted to do this trip so looked round the town first and then came back for the trip later. We went to Independence square, and the circus roundabout, and guess what, it rained heavily again. We had lunch on the ship and went to the quayside again. The trip was well worth waiting for. We had a good tour of the island and all the kids waved at us on the train. It’s a shame seeing them in their shanty houses. We had free drinks; I had a fruit punch as I had learnt the rum punches were too strong. I had a pina colada as well which was nice. St Kitts seemed to be one of the poorest of the islands.
ST LUCIA: In the morning I spotted the spotted dolphin out of our cabin window. When I went up top deck, we spotted whales. There was a mummy with her baby and a guardian. It was fantastic. Good time to see whales when there are young, as the young can’t stay down for a long time. OV tour booked, sail sightsee and swim! This was fab. We picked up a catamaran near where we docked. We sailed past Marigot bay, an exclusive resort, the place where they made Indiana Jones and eventually we arrived at the Pitons. There are free drinks all day, The Rum punch you could smell a mile away, I stuck with Fruit Punch, Mark had the rum punch. We picked up buses to go to the sulphur springs; it was quite cool up here. We have been to a volcano before so we were used to the ‘eggy’ sulphur smell. We then went to the botanical gardens, it was nice to see different and weird plants, I’m not usually into these things, but this was interesting. We also seen diamond falls. We then got back on the catamaran where a buffet was served. I was worried about the veggie food, but they had macaroni cheese, rice and veg.
We sailed back to our boat. We spotted to Hawkesbill turtles swim past us, they were huge. We stopped off at a beach which was dirty so they took us to another. I didn’t go in the water, it wasn’t very nice. It was a long day but well worth it.
MAYREAU: Small little private island. We got on one of the first tenders, to sit in the morning sun. There was a funny smell by where the tenders dropped us off. We went right down the far end, it was perfect. We went in the sea, and there were loads of fish swimming by us. It was far too hot, so we got on a tender and stayed on the ship in the afternoon.
BARBADOS: In the morning we shared a taxi to Malibu visitors centre and factory. It was really interesting to see how it was made, and of course sample it. You then have free access to the beach, which was lovely. I had my hair braided here. At midday we went back to the ship. We were going to get a taxi to the animal reserve but he said $55, and I thought no way.
ANTIGUA: OV excursion, Best of Antigua without lunch. This was well wroth doing. We visited Shirley’s heights, couldn’t see Montserrat though. The view was wonderful. Then we went to Dow’s Hill to the Fort. This was nice to. We could see Eric Clapton’s house on the hill. After this we headed to Nelsons Dockyard. It was wonderful. Pity we didn’t have longer here. It was really hot though, had to find some shade. On the way back we stopped at the Cheers bar near the port for a drink.
DOMINICA: OV excursion again, whale and dolphin watching. We got on to a reasonable catamaran. I went up top and within 20mins, I spotted a whale, they were really pleased, it was a humpback whale which they have not spotted in over a year. Unfortunately that is all we seen! We then stopped by a fisherman’s boat. He caught a malpin (tuna like fish, can’t remember the name). I was filming and I didn’t realise he was bashing it on the head, so I stopped when I did. They do that so it doesn’t move in the boat. It was horrible, and then they cut of his fin. Looking for more whales and dolphins, the captain put the catamaran at 14 knots! It was good fun up top getting wet; apparently there were loads of people being sick downstairs! We heard that a lady had her camera stolen, funny how she had her camera case and memory card. The captain had no choice but to phone the police. He was so annoyed; he said in the 11 years he’s done this, this is the first time to happen. When we got back the police were waiting. They searched the boat before us, everyone was annoyed. Everyone on OV were looking at us as we were next to her! They didn’t find anything.
GRENADA: OV excursion, OV mountain biking. I was getting worried, I hadn’t been on a bike in years, and luckily others were the same. Mark was okay with the bike, I was a little wobbly at first, but soon got used to it. It was scary riding with the cars round bends as they try and over take you. We had a stop to look at the carneage (sp) It was lovely. We then carried onto Grand Anse Beach, it was beautiful. Chris took a photo of mark and I with the ship in the distance. This was a quick stop, and we carried onto another beach. We had one hill; everyone had to walk up it. My hip was hurting by this point, Chris our guide offered to take the bike off me, I said I needed it to help me up! We passed really poor house which were damaged badly by the hurricane. Eventually we go to our beach, all we had to do was ride down a lovely hill to get to it! The beach was fantastic, with one or two locals, we had tow hours here. We had a dip in the sea, and then cooled off in the bar. I said to Mark, that hill we rode down, we have to ride up it!!!! Well we walked up it.
Eventually we got back to the ship. My bum was hurting, and my hands from braking.
When we got back to the ship I cancelled our Tobago bike ride, as my hip was hurting and we were told it was as hilly as Grenada, so I wasn’t taking any chances with my hip.
It was a good day though.
ISLA DE MARGARITA: we booked independently with a couple recommended to us on the message boards. We had a 15min walk out of the port to meet them. The day was fab.
We went to a place where locals go on an evening to see the sunset, we had a view of two bays, I think it was called ‘Juangriego’. We then stopped at ‘La Casa de las Munecas’ where Queen of Spain has visited for her pearls. I brought a lovely saltwater pearl bracelet and some pottery items. Then we stopped to look at a spider monkey who was adamant he was going to have my camera as he walked on me. We stopped and looked at ‘El Agua’ beach, the most popular on the island. From there we stopped at ‘La Asuncion’ which was beautiful. I took a few photos of the square and Catholic Church and we stopped at the castle.
Our next stop was a drive to the highest point on the mountains you could drive, ‘Sierra El Copey’, again there were shanty houses here which were sad. We had a fantastic view of ‘Polamar’. From there we visited a newish church I think it was in ‘La Sierra’.
We drove past ‘Polamar and ‘Pampatar’ and Mark picked up some rum he had tried for £1.50! We stopped at ‘El Yaque’ beach where windsurfers come from all over the world. There were loads of them, but I can understand why, it was so windy. On the way back to the ship we passed the airport, and then got dropped off. An excellent day.
TOBAGO: There was nothing we fancied as we had cancelled the bike ride. We stayed on the ship and actually sunbathed. It was my Birthday, so I was allowed! In the evening we went to La Luna for my birthday.
Travel operator:
Thomas Cook/OV
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