My husband and I are 27 and 28 and we have a six month old daughter. We went for two weeks and the first week was just my husband and I, it was our 3 months late honeymoon. Then the second week my mother in-law and father in-law brought on my baby daughter. It was a great cruise, staff were very friendly toward my family and especially my daughter. It was very clean. Cots were very good. Brought on our own stroller. Food was good. They pureed food for my daughter too. Entertainment was very cheesy but good fun. Baby clubs were good, Grace enjoyed them very much. I loved the first week too. The swim up bar was lovely. Enjoyed the fact there was an adults only pool. I also liked the fact there was a baby pool that was shallow for babies. Would definitly sail again.

Cleanliness excellent, although they only changed the towels etc once a day.
Food again very good, lots of it and very hot. Great selection.
Ships staff very friendly and helpfull.
Entertainment although good, we are not really into tribute bands. Acrobats fantastic.
Ports of call very good, trips Ok some bit pricey.
Drinks expensive (depending on where you live in the UK).

our highlight of the trip had 2 be the comedion Michelle Martinez . he was a top guy and was the funneist comedian we had seen in a while . we though the planet show on top deck was very clever .
over all all the staff and crew came over friendly and we liked the fact that it was imformal .

We have just returned(feb 5th) with our two children (10 & 12)from ov2(our first cruise)to the carribean. we flew from gatwick with some trepidation after reading reports here.flight was fine.arrived in aruba and was taken to the ship.boarding was easy and efficient which was good after a long flight.then went to find our cabin on deck 9 with picture window.bit dissapointed with the size,got very cogested when all trying to get ready to go out. top tip. move ladders and push bunk up to stop banging head & shoulders!! hairdryer not brilliant take your own if more than one person needs to use it. only one socket in whole of cabin.shower room very compact!!cleaner brilliant & frendly. beds very comfy.we enjoyed the food in both restuarants and evan ate in the la luna a couple of times which was great.didnt eat in the bisto as didnt like the set menu. entertainment was ok ,dont miss the planet show on top deck really good.sea days are a "nightmare".we had "5" of them. not enough sun beds. and the ticket system doesnt work,people reserved them with towels all the time,some had four in the sun & another four in shade for when they got too hot..500 beds 1700 passengers?pools are tiny.150 kids on 2nd wk. pool was like kid soup! didnt help by having the family from h*ll. around 50 of them who did all they could to ruin everyone elses holiday.very intimidating abusive bullies. we are far from snobs but this lot were really rough chavs who you would expect to see in butlins not on a cruise ship. very dissapointed with ov2 hotel director who didnt do enough to put a stop to it,after numerous complaints from many passengers.this will have a bad inpact on the ship.(personally,i would have put them overboard and let them take their chances with the sharks!!!if there were any??) the rest of the staff/crew on board were really helpfull & friendly.(especially sateesh in plantation.) excursions booked on board are way too expensive.we booked a few at the docks and were less than half the price.booked to go out on ribs at grenada, two people per rib,drive yourself,following a guide around bay.stop for drink(included)& go snorkeling(provided) then out to sea to go dolphing spotting.about 3hrs.$220.for 4 persons brilliant fast fun.go snorkelling on no name beach in bonaire.fantastic coral & beautiful fish,again book localy.went river tubing in dominica also great fun(had to book through ship as they have the monopoly).if you are going to swim with dolphins go to curacao.more expensive but so much better for you & dolphins.we booked through ship as this was the one trip we didnt want to miss.could have gone on our own alot lot cheaper.didnt get off at caracas, too dangerous.someone was mugged & another shot at,ov2 has since stopped going there.coulnt get ashore at mayreau.too rough for tenders(quite common)which was really dissapointing as this is a private beach where all of ocean village crew & passengers go ashore for bbq party!!friends who have been say this is the highlight of the cruise.we found you never had long enough ashore to see more of the islands you visit.taxi drivers at ports are a nightmare for pestering you as soon as you leave safe area to book trips.tobago was our favourite island.took taxi to englishmans bay.only ones there.palm trees. little snack shack. no sunbeds!! paradise.taxi stayed and brought us back when we wanted.all taxis we used you either paid half on way or in full on return to ship.they do try to talk you into going on a tour tho. went to blue monkey beach in barbados(simon cowel is supposed to be buying app there??)lovely beach but you are pestered every 5 mins by locals trying to sell their jewelery ect.we had rain showers everyday and one day it poured all day,(which meant another day on board?)kids club was good didnt see much of our 12 yr old,he had a ball.we had a brilliant first week but the second was ruined by us having to stay on board with the CHAVS.but we did meet a fab family who we hope to keep in touch with.leaving the ship is quite a major operation as yor luggage has to be outside you cabin between 6pm &11pm.so you have to make sure you change out of your evening clothes.remember to keep out swimmers, going home clothes,sun lotion/shower gel ect which you then have to chuck as you cant take it on plane.we also too a couple of fleece throws for way home for kids to snuggle up with,(plane ones are too small) all in all it was average holiday,would we cruise again?? maybe, but not with ocean village.

The ship was spotless, the food was excellent, the staff were a little vacant in some areas, very hard work ordering a rum and coke! most of the staff are from the phillapenes and dont understand a lot of english.

The entertainment was a bit repetitive, if Sass sang on deck 5 and 8pm, then they sang in the Marquee at 9pm, Laura would then go to deck 5 and the ships hunk would go to deck 12 to sing to the guests outside, then 10pm all change round again!

The disco is in the casino with no resident dj, hence no dancing unless you were totally off your trolly!

All in all a great experience as this was our first cruise, its a pity OV2 is going to Australia next year because we would definately do it all over again.

I did a two week cruise on OV2 in the Caribbean from mid-November to early December. They were called Parrots and Palm Trees/Coral and Coconuts.

I flew from Gatwick to Barbados, the charter flight taking about eight-and-a-half hours.

OV targets the 30 and 40 age group, so imagine my surprise to look around the departure lounge and see fellow cruisers, some of whom were well into their 80s! The average age must have been 50 plus.

My inside cabin was very spacious with twin single beds and the cleanliness was impeccable. The staff worked very hard.

My only gripe about the cabin was the TV. The 12 or 14 inch CRT set was 6ft off the floor which made viewing for any length of time an uncomfortable experience. There were three channels showing movies but all were regularly interrupted by announcements that the art auction was about to start or a long list of onboard events. The only news channel was CNN because Sky News is out of range in the Caribbean. Surely they could provide BBC World as well? CNN suffered the same annoying interruptions.

OV2 does not have a cinema so there was nowhere else to watch films but in your cabin.

Another oddity about entertainment was that I never saw anyone dancing - there was no disco.

I found some of the singers to be lacking but the tribute acts and the top deck acrobatic show were first class.

As a single traveller I was disappointed that there was no attempt to get other singles together for a social.

The food was excellent - the curries especially so because OV2 employs Indian chefs. I only dined in the Plantation and Waterfront self-service restaurants because there seemed no need to pay extra for waiter service and a better choice of menu. The food is angled towards British tastes - it was good to see back bacon being served instead of the cheaper streaky.

Some of the ports of call were decidedly dodgy - the type of places where muggings could easily occur. In fact, one passenger on the ship did lose some valuables in such an incident.

I did a couple of excursions. From St Vincent I visited Mustique, the holiday isle frequented bt the super rich (Princess Margaret was a regular). At £84 it was the most expensive of all the excursions and in my view very overpriced. I gained little knowledge of the island and saw very little of it. Most of the time there was taken up eating an unnecessary three-course meal which was included in the price. Avoid!

In Aruba I went on a tourist submarine to see the sealife. That was ok.

Drinks are approximately at pub prices. However, when one considers there is no duty or VAT, the cost is actually considerably above UK prices. There is quite a lot of pressure to drink but waiters accept a 'No thanks' and go away. Since all spending on the ship is charged to a credit card at the end of the holiday, it would be easy to build up a considerable bill.

One warning: there are two 1.5 litre bottles of mineral water placed in each cabin. These are prodigiously priced at £1.65 each. Tap water in the cabin in perfectly safe to drink - OV says so in the info booklet placed in each cabin.

On the whole I enjoyed the holiday but there were some let-downs as noted above. The weather was mixed - some hot sunny days, one wet day and several dull but warm.

Would I go on OV2 again? No. There are many other cruise lines and we only have limited holidays and funds to pay for them.

Just back from 2 weeks in the Med on OV2 On the whole we enjoyed the cruise, a few negatives but first the positives
Both the flights from and to Manchester were on time and quite comfortable, transfers and embarkation was hassle free.
We had a balcony cabin on deck 10 which was adequate, TV fridge kettle hair dryer and safe. the cabin was spotless, towels changed when necessary, and tea,coffee etc kept topped up
The restaurants were very good, as for being "canteens" I think that is very unfair, my wife who has spent many years as a catering manager, said the Waterfront was one of the best self services she has been in, the presentation variety and quality of the food was excellent As for the staff we found them to be very friendly, pity we couldn't say that about some of the passengers.
The drinks were reasonably priced especially the coffee in Charlies
The bad bits--- Its a shame they didn't put as much effort into the on board entertainment as they did with trying to sell things,I didn't rate the resident singers at all, apart from a couple of tribute artists and a comedian I thought the entertainment was very poor
The Art Auctions,what a waste of time,
To sum up, apart from the entertainment very good value for money, would go with them again.

We have just returned from a weeks cruise on OV2, having spent 2 weeks on OV1 last year. In the mean time we had done a number of cruises with other companys.

The ship was large, and well laid out, not having been modified like a number of other ships.

We had a cabin on deck 9 which was large, and we liked the supply of a fridge and a kettle.

The cabin was cleaned each day and well cleaned the cleaners worked hard and were quite cheerfull.

The areas we did not like, were the canteens (sorry restaurents) which reminded us of a motoway cafe on a bad day, including on a number of ocasions having difficulty in finding a seat even if only two of us were looking. The layouts of food collection could cause some confusion. The Bistro was however very good, and the food in the canteens was of a higher level then OV1.

Most of the ships passengers were in the older age group, and cetainly better behaved than OV1 with a similar age group.

What lets the ship down is the entertainment, which is of a much lower standard than similar level ships, and the ship has no buzz in the evening. The major push seems to be to sell things rather than entertain. One does wonder what a younger age group which is the target of this ship would make of this.

Somthing was wrong with the ships staff, with the exception of cleaning staff who were very good. Maybe the pressure to sell was reaching them, and certainly the pressure on customers increased as the week went on. An example was being pounced on by waiters selling drink even before you had a chance sit in your seat. Many of the waiting staff were like robots.

The art auction does not work, and is an insult to the intellgence of customers.

This was our first experience of cruising and thoroughly enjoyed it. EXCELLENT value for money! The waiting staff, bar staff and cabin cleaners were amazing! They would bend over backwards for you. There were plenty of them too, contrary to another review. Your tray was whisked away from you before you could find a place to put it, likewise your dirty plates.
The ship was spotlessly clean although a couple of areas are now needing attention (an area of booths at the top of sundeck 14). Finding a lounger on the days at sea was hard (esp trying to get one in the sun) and we felt like we were in a can of sardines! The ship operate a 'no reserving loungers with towels' policy which was good but did not stop some people. However later in the day and especially on the days at sea a 'lounger attendant' tagged the loungers that were reserved with belongings and if away from it more than 30 mins the belongings were apparently taken to reception. Generally not enough deck space and pools really small for the amount of guests on board.
The food was amazing (start that diet now as you can eat 24hrs - literally!!) The choice was better in Plantation restaurant although the decor was not as nice here as The Waterfront. Decor generally dated throughout but fine.
Spa amazing too - massive.
The entertainment (singers)was of mixed quality and ended too early. Nothing after 11 unless you went to Players the late night bar and casino. They had some guest singers who joined the boat (Alisha and Double Impact from X Factor and a Robbie Williams tribute. Dancers and acrobats amazing.
Entertainment crew were a pain and chose when to speak to you (if they did at all). Announcements every 2 mins with the day's events.
Trips very expensive and a bit like school trips. We did our own thing. They also don't advertise the free shuttle bus that takes you into town when in a remote port (Livorno, Tunis).
All in all a great experience when new to cruising. We would like to try a slightly newer/better ship next time but would not hesitate to sail on this ship again.

I am 12 years old but I will still tell you about the ocean village 2 the cruise was amazing the food was too people have said that the staff are not very nice but they are amazing just like the cruise I would most definetly go on the cruise again


Adam Moss
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