This was our third cruise on Ocean Village.
The cabin was excellent and standard of cleanliness good. The staff are very friendly and always willing to go that extra mile. We always try to eat in the La Luna restaurant a few times - it's certainly worth paying a little extra. Unfortunately, the entertainment doesn't seem to have changed in the last 3 years and some of the female singers are dreadful. I suggest maybe some local talent could be hired. For example - the young lad who entertained us on Tour B in Mayreau was fantastic and everyone on board really enjoyed his music.
We are looking forward to the new ship.

Being first time cruisers we really were looking for a more laid back approach and not keen on the over-the-top dressing up for dinner scene. Our experience on Ocean Village far surpassed our expectations.

Cleanliness on board was second to none with all staff on the look out at all times should anything be out of place.

The food, well what can I say, the choice was exceptional and the buffet service was certainly the best option. We liked the idea of helping ourselves to whatever we wanted and also eating as and when we chose.

The entertainment on board was very good, with the Moon Show being absolutely amazing. The only negative rating I would give in respect of entertainment would be to the resident group Infinity who were awful.

The Caribbean Islands visited were fabulous, just a shame you couldn't spend longer ashore, but never mind we can always see more next year.

We loved Ocean Village so much that we are doing a Med Cruise at the end of May and taking more friends as well.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 7 day cruise with Ocean village. The Ocean Village experience was far superior to our previous cruise . However, to be fair, this was partly due to the weather and our decision to upgrade to an outside cabin.

The checking-in procedure went very smoothly and our suitcases were delivered to our cabin. The ship itself is very impressive and cleanliness is taken very seriously. the staff are very friendly and keen to assist but are not 'in your face'. there is plenty of choice at mealtimes. the salads are lovely and fresh. the only criticism being the 'hot' food did not live up to its name! The comedians the week we cruised were very funny, the tribute bands were ok, the moon show was different. the 'pulse' show was very energetic and the best show of the week. Elliott Frisbee and anthony ward were excellent.

we found the action ashore excursions were great value for money especially the tree top adventure !!

Overall, had a great time and would recommend an ocean village cruise to anyone.

Lets start with the flight Thomas Cook were fine but there just is not enough leg room and very limited seats to upgrade. Transfer to the ship excellent in cabin in the hour. Food was ok. Excellent in Bistro where you pay extra. Staff excellent very friendly. On board entertainment not good cruised with Thomson previously and entertainment far better! Saying that the Ocean Village cabins were far better than Thomson so all in all it would be a toss up. Enjoyed both cruises. Trips did Tortola sight see and swim was very good. St Marteen was lovely and we walked to beach and shops. Could'nt dock at St Kitts disapointed worst weather they had known still lovley and hot just very windy sea too chopy. St Lucia went to Sandals Resort for the day well worth the money had lovely day. Again could'nt put down anchor at Mayreau too chopy for tender boat. all in all had a great trip. Cant wait to go back hope the entertainment will improve.

We were on the Ocean Village for two weeks. I could have stayed for another two weeks. It was the best holiday we have ever had. We enjoyed every minute of it.

We did get the odd moaner but just ignored them. We read the brochure properly so knew what to expect.

The staff were really good and we found the ship to be very clean.

We ate in the Bistro which was wonderful. James Martin was on board while we were there and he was very charming. I had no complaints over the food at all because if you did not like what was in one restaurant you just went to another.

The entertainment was good. If you did not like what was on in one venue then you could always go to another.

We did a few trips but mainly did our own thing. We would just get a taxi to go to the beach.

We did not dock at St Kitts or Mayreau because of bad weather conditions. We enjoyed all the other islands.

Overall it was a wonderful holiday. I have already booked for January 2007.

I have just read some of the reviews about ocean village and cannot beleive that anyone could have anything bad to say about the ship !!. I have cruised twice on ocean village and have just booked my 3rd caribbean cruise for 2008. I cannot beleive the comments that (a few) people have made about the ships cleanliness!! it is spotless!! plus the food is out of this world and the staff are extremely polite and friendly. While i was on the ship I spoke to a lot of people who have travelled on other cuise ships which have been far grander and more formal and they all said that ocean village was the best they had been on. Reading the reviews i notice the positives well outweigh the negatives so if anyone is thinking of booking with ocean village i would advise them to go ahead and ignore the minority who said they didn't enjoy it.!! beleive me I wouldn't be going back a 3rd time if any of these negative comments were true.

Flight out was ok and food fairly good on plane.
First two days on board was quite good, but then we were notified of some sort of tummy virus apparently brought on board from a uk flight.
We spent the rest of our time on board worried that we might catch this dreaded bug and be confined to our cabins for 3 days.
Quite rightly so a clampdown on the serve yourself was imposed in the dining rooms, but that was no excuse for the deterioration of the quality, choice & sometimes tepid food & semi raw fried eggs that was served for the rest of our 2 weeks.
The shortage of Staff soon became very noticeable, and by the end of the first week they were losing their smiles and patience.
The cabin was a good size and clean, our cabin maid was very good.
The ship overall seemed quite clean but don't look too closely.
The dining rooms were very noisy, and we had to walk around a fair bit to find an empty cleaned table, a couple of times at breakfast we managed to find a quiet area to eat but these sections were not always available as they were closed off long before the end of the dining session, why?
(Entertainment) Elliott Frisby was excellent, the Moon Show first time round was good, get there early to get a seat.
A couple of comedians were good and the Panto was good, as was Crash & Pulse but I wouldn't rate the rest of the entertainment.
The female entertainment crew had voices that "got on your nerves" and they just didn't shut up.
You would expect to find a quiet area around at least one of the pools but the sunbeds were packed in like sardines and there were no cushions on the sunbeds as portrayed on the ships virtual tour on the website, so they were most uncomfortable. It was very difficult to get an early morning swim before the kids took over the pool, as they were practicing the trapeze acts, and by lunch time both pool areas were swamped by the too loud terrible sounding music and female "get on your nerves" voices over the badly set up speakers.
The back of the ship had 3 lovely terraces with sunbeds and were nice and quiet but you were overpowered by the smell of diesel fumes here and deck 10 had conditioning vents blowing god knows what smells out, also these beds were covered in soot smuts from the funnel, so beware if you go out there in your best clothes at night.
The cocktails were very disappointing.
Charlies bar was pleasant, as was the Blue Bar, I quite enjoyed the peace in the village square area until on our last night it was turned into a pub singalong by a crowd of slightly drunk young men, but they were having a good time.
The men in our party enjoyed the Oval, but I found the Football & CNN News on the large screens too loud, I enjoyed some of the quizzes in there though, but with only 20 questions they were over too quickly as was all of the entertainment, everything seemed to be too rushed.
The air conditioning in Connexions was far too cold, so we never hung around there too long.
In Bayside we waited for half an hour, never did get served with a drink so we left and never went in there again the rest of our holiday, a shame really as I do like a bit of a boogie.
The food on the return flight was disgusting.

That's the moaning out of the way, now for the good bits:
Each and every one of the Islands were very beautiful in there own individual way.
We didn't bother with any of the organised ship tours, other passengers told us they were not impressed.
On each Island we took a Taxi or Mini Bus and the drivers were fantastic, we just needed to let them know exactly where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see and they looked after us very well, they have to, they rely on the tourists for their living. We Didn't pick the first one we talked to we shopped around and checked out the quality of vehicle they have, we agreed on a price before we set off. If we just wanted to go to a beach, we told them what time we wanted to go back to the ship and they were there waiting for us.
We found the Islanders all very friendly even the beggars and if we politely told them no thank you, they went away.
So would I travel on Ocean Village again?
The answer to that would be NO!, not unless things improved considerably.
It was a useful vessel to transport us to each Island with a comfortable bed.
I would sum it up as a poor relation of a floating Butlins.

Just got back from Ocean village 2 week cruise. Fantastic and would definetly do it again, this was our second Ocean village cruise and was the even better than the first.

After a delayed start (flight 4 hours), we eventually got to the ship, we were told there was some cases of Norovirus on board. This was all we needed after a long days travelling.

At first it was a bit annoying in the restaurants not being able to help yourself and standing in the que's for food. Also the restaurants would close at random times not as per advertised.

After a couple of days things improved they were handing out complimentary drinks to make up for the service. Our second week it all went back to normal.

I would say they did a fantastic job of stopping the bug spreading and making it as easy as possible during difficult times.

All of the Islands were fantastic especially St Maarten and Mayreau.

The entertainment is great something for everyones taste.Action ashore was brilliant especially quad biking in St. Lucia.

All staff were brilliant, friendly and very helpful.

I did get sick of hearing people moaning usually the people who were out of the recomended age group for OV.
If you are trying to enjoy your holiday you dont need people moaning in the background.

Overall 99% perfect holiday, would recomend for people our age 25.

Well June ( a few posts below) has said it all really. In fact I think she was been too kind.
Unedible food, norovirus, management unable to help were the main problems.
A floating butlins it is apart from at butlins the food , entertainment and staff are better .

We have just returned from our 2 week xmas cruise, 13 - 27 December 2005, and loved every minute of it. We like the informal type of cruising and this is our 2nd O.V cruise. We have also been on the Islane Escape 3 times.

Weather
We were not sure what the weather would be like, but it was hot and sunny almost every day and in the low 30's temp wise.
Only 1 really poor weather day, in St Lucia on the 21st Dec, where it rained all day, and on xmas eve whilst in Tortola where it rained in the afternoon and eary evening where it looked as though it was going to spoil the deck party and the arrival of santa with the kids presents, but luckily it stopped when santa arrived.

Ship
Love this ship as it's nice and big with 2 large pools and plenty of space. You could easily get a sunbed at 10am on the day at sea, but if you want a good spot make sure you get out earlier! When the ship is docked, you are spoilt for deck space. (On the Island escape, you need to be out at 8am or earlier to get a bed on sea days)

Cabins
We were upgraded from a standard inside to a standard outside with a view of a tender boat! But we had some daylight, so can't moan as it was unexpected. O.V claim their standard cabins are 50% bigger than other ships and it's true! They are massive compared to Island Escape and include a fridge and kettle with plenty of tea, coffee, biscuits and milk etc. Also the shower is huge with loads of room.

Food
We love the infomal dining experience and being able to choose what we want when we want. There were loads of choice in both self serve restaurants and it was always hot and tasty. The xmas dinner was laid out nicely and they even had mince pies etc. I find the food is a notch above Island Escapes so I give it 4 stars.
(People who only give the food 1 star must be used to eating in Gordan Ramsey type restaurants and shouldn't be on this type of cruise, or are people who just like to moan).

Entertainment
We first cruised with O.V in May 2003, 2weeks in the
Med. It was a new concept for P & O and must say the entertainment then was DIRE. We gave it 1 star at the time. To make things worse, the shows and even comedians were exactly the same on the 2nd week!!
(Island Escape beat it hands down).
Luckily, O.V have learnt their lesson and things have changed, big time! On the whole the shows etc are different on both weeks. The Moon show is still there, on top deck, and is excellent and unique to O.V.
On our first week 'Bucks Fizz' were special guests and a week later 'Heatwave', remember Boogie Nights?
The 'Pulse' and 'Crash' shows are innovative and even the comedians were different, Mia on our 2nd week was especially talented. They even had a pantomine, Aladdin, which was quite good. They also had tribute type shows that included Abba, Rod Stewart and Kyle. We enjoyed the entertainment this time, well worth 3 stars maybe 4.

Overall cruise experience
Loved it and wanted to stay for the new year. Would definately do another xmas cruise, it was well worth the money. Check your bags in at the airport and next time you see them is outside the cabin, you can't beat that. Staff are wonderful and you feel totally looked after.

We can't help but compare O.V and the Island Escape and have enjoyed both ships. If you want to try the informal type of cruise, in our opinion O.V is a cut above Island Escape in most departments. They both have new ships coming on board next year and 2007 and look forward to trying them in the future.

The only negative is that our day in Mayreau - Boxing day was cancelled as the captain said the sea was too choppy for the tender boat, so we had to spend 2 consecutive days at sea. Xmas day as planned, and our last day. We thought there may have been a bit of cabin credit as compensation, but we did not receive anything apart from a revised activity list.

If anyone would like any more information about O.V and Island Escape ie. bar prices, and excursion prices etc please get in touch with me at GWUK@GO.COM. Please type Cruise Query in the subject box.