First time on a cruise, an unforgettable experience that i would encourage anyone who loves excellent cuisine, fantastic entertainment and beautiful countries to do.
Cleanliness
We arrived at Southampton and our luggage was quickly taken from us and our car put in safe premises. The organisation was incredible!
On arrival to our cabin it was spotless. Everything was clean and it was large enough for what you need it for. Our cabin 'maid' was fantastic. Couldn't do enough for us. The hairdryer was fine - one thing i was worried about havin a teenage daughter! Everything was changed everyday, a chocoalate on the bed at night - even our nightwear was ironed!

Food
24/7 you can eat - the food was never ending.
The Ligurian Resturant was fabulous silver service. The waiters were happy and friendly and they quickly get to know you and fun banter was greatly enjoyed. There were many options with extras such as steak if there wasn't anything to your taste. The waiters didn't put a foot wrong, it was a pleasure to meet such polite people.
Entertainment
The Theatre stage company were absolutely marvelous. The productions were as good as the westend. The dancing was fantastic! The comedians were also a pleasure to watch.

I have already booked our next cruise with P&O, we have had the best holiday for years and only wish we'd done this sooner.

This was our first cruise holiday so we were a little apprehensive. We needn't have been - it was fabulous.

From the moment we arrived at the Mayflower Terminal everything was taken care of - our luggage was whisked away and was waiting for us when we reached our cabin. As for the check-in process, well, this was simplicity itself - and guess what - no queueing.

The sail away was fantastic - we stood on deck with a glass of champagne and set sail - oh, did I mention the brass band playing on the quay? No, well this was special.

On boarding Oceana for the first time we were amazed by the sheer size and amazed too by the exquisite decor, all of which was cleaned and maintained to the highest standards. On deck we say the maintenance team working every day keeping the ship looking immaculate - including the paintwork.

There was something exciting about waking up in a different location every morning. We went on a couple of organised trips and although they were very enjoyable I did think they were just a little expensive.

Our 11 year old daughter really enjoyed the kids club - well it wasn't like the typical kids club, more like a youth club. This was available from 9 a.m. to midnight. This meant that my wife and I could enjoy time together for the first time in years on holiday. We could go to the show lounge, the theatre, bars, nightclub and yes, even the Bingo! (The jackpot prize was over £1600 on the last sea-day)

We were in an outside cabin with a window - we wanted a balcony but these sell-out really quickly so I'm told. But our cabin was fine - everything you could need but with one significant extra - a steward to look after your every need! Priceless!

The dining options are endless. We had Freedom Dining which meant we could book a table for whatever time we wanted rather than be on a set table and time every night. This worked well but if you didn't book early (before 10 a.m.) you may not have got the time or table size you wanted. The food was incredible - quite simply incredible. We even enjoyed the formal evenings, dressing up made it all the more enjoyable.

The Theatre Group were fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed all 5 different shows in the west end style theatre. The acts in all the other entertainment venues were fantastic too. Oh, just a word about Joff the Cruise Director - he was amazing. Professional and very funny - he was fantastic as host on Mr & Mrs - I'll never forget the 'bull'
sounds!

I guess the real way to determine what a holiday was like is to ask if we would go again. Well we would - and are - we've already booked for next year. Maybe we'll see you there!

We have just returned from a 7 Nights cruise onboard Oceana and we had the best cruise ever! We have cruised with P & O 3 times previous as well as numerous other cruise companies. However this was the first cruise we had taken with our 2 year old and I had to say I was nervous about what to expect.

Embarkation
We drove down from Manchester to Southampton and upon arrival at the cruise terminal was met by Car and Passenger Services who we had booked car parking with, this is a fantastic service you unpack you car hand them the keys and they look after everything from there. After a short queue checking in we went through to the embarkation lounge. We then had a wait of about 2 hours in there which with a toddler was eventful as he got fed up even though we was trying to entertain him. We eventually boarded the ship at 2pm and everything was smooth sailing from there!

Cabin
Our luggage was delivered to our cabin almost straight away which is definitely a first for me as we normally have to wait hours for it. We had an inside cabin on D Deck it was a 3 berth cabin so my husband had to climb each night to the top bunk but it was still very comfortable. P & O provided a bed rail for our son so he was safe in his bed and we didn't have to bring ours from home. The cabin I have to say was perfect for what we needed somewhere to just sleep and change. Our Cabin steward was fantastic very friendly and couldn't do enough for us.

Bars
The ships facilities were excellent we sampled all restaurants and bars we made very good friends with the bar staff in the Yacht and Compass Bar and one particular waiter in Winners they even knew what time we would get there each evening and what we would like to drink!

Restaurants/Food
We tended to dine in the Plaza buffest for breakfast which was excellent plenty of choice either Full English, Fruit or Pastries. For lunch we would either dine in the Plaza Buffet Restaurant or Horizon Grill as both of these were good again plenty of choice for all of us. The only down side to the food was in the Ligurian Restaurant we felt that this wasn't upto the usual high standards of P & O, as we was on the Freedom dining you had to book a table in the restaurant on the morning and we found it difficult to get the time and table size we wanted even when we called as soon as you was able to. So we ended up dining in either The Plaza Buffet Restaurant, Horizon Grill or Cafe Jardin and the food was of a much better standard here.

Kids Facilities
These were second to none our little boy was fully entertained so much that he didn't want to leave he made friends and the girls that ran this made a complete fuss of him! They did all sorts there is a ball pool, ride on toys, books and loads of toys. They had magic shows, talent shows they even taught my little boy to sing Ba Ba Black sheep which made me cry during the talent show! Everything was fantastic. There was a night nursery that we didn't use but people that we spoke to who did use this said it was very handy the only thing was that if your child woke during their stay here the staff tried to settle them but if it went for for more than a minute they woudl page you. We however used the in cabin baby listening facilities which meant that they wouldn't be woken by any other child that may wake. This was brilliant for us and when we told other parents about this they wished they had been told sooner.

Itinerary
We did the 7 Nights Norwegian Fjords Cruise which included calling at Stavanger, Flam, Olden and Bergen. This was the best cruise itinerary I have ever done. So interesting something I feel should be done by everyone. We had fantastic weather the best Norway had seen in a long time so we managed to get off ship every day and walk around with out getting wet through! We would love to do this itinerary again but next time go much further north to Iceland only down side is P & O don't seem to put Oceana on to this itinerary.

One bad thing I do have to say is about the other passengers. Why is it that if you have a child with you some of the older people believe that they should not be allowed in the main dining room and should all be in bed by 6pm!

All in All we had a brilliant holiday well recommended to anyone but especially anyone who has children.

Hope you find this helpful!

As 1st time cruisers, after reading a few reviews on here, we were a little worried as to what the cruise would be like. We did a 2 week cruise round the med and i have to say it was the best 2 weeks of our life.
From embarking at Southampton we left our cases and didn't see them again until we arrived at our cabin were they were waiting for us.
We did hit a little bit of bad weather going through the bay of biscay, but a sea sickness tablet soon sorted that and we were back to normal again and ready to have a look round the ship.
We were in an inside cabin on Britannia deck (deck 10), the cabin was small but you didn't really spend that much time in there so it didn't really matter.
It was spotless, and the cabin steward couldn't do enough for us, she was wonderful.
We dined 2nd sitting in the adriatic restuarant on a table of 8 and made 6 wonderful friends. The 2 waitors and the wine waitor were excellent, couldn't do enough for us. Food was amazing, some nights there wasn't anything I liked the look of but you could have alternatives, for example, steak which was very nice!!
The staff onboard were fantastic. Especially in the Yacht&Compass bar, which became like our local, the waitors/waitresses knew what we were drinking practically before we sat down. You could have a bit of friendly banter with them, and we made some good friends with them. There was entertainment on during the day, even days when the ship was in port.
ENTERTAINMENT
The entertainment on board was excellent. The stadium theatre company excelled themselves. The shows were brilliantly done, and it felt like you were in a theatre in the west end. Our favourite was "I Love TV" which was so funny.
We didn't get off the ship in every port, just Cannes, Florence&Pisa, Rome, Palma and Gibralter. We had organised trips to Cannes, Florence&Pisa and Rome. Be warned Rome is an extremley long and tiring day especially in the heat, but is well worth it if you have never been before.
FORMAL EVENINGS
These were my favourites, you only really need to be dressed formal on these nights if you are dining in the restuarants, but we loved getting dressed up and it is quite interesting seeing how dressed up some people get.
We had a tropical night, which was great! Get your loudest shirts and dresses out, as alot of people dress very loudly. We had a deck party which involved a show with the STC and then a disco afterwards which was a good laugh.
Black and white night was also great and we had a 60s and 70s night when some of the crew and entertainers dressed up in dodgy wigs and outfits but it was a good night.
All in all i have to say I was dissapointed to dock back at Southampton, as the holiday was amazing!
The ship was beautiful and i was gobsmacked when i looked over the balcony at southampton to see the size of the ship and even more gobsmacked when we got onboard to see the interior of the ship!
The staff were brilliant,the food was brilliant.
There wasn't anything to complain about, i suppose people think as 1st time cruisers we might be a little naive but we had extremley high standards when we booked this cruise and were not dissapointed!!
Have even booked for next october!
Brilliant holiday...can't wait for the photos now!!

Hi,
Just got back from the cruise Southampton to Vigo,Lisbon,Cadiz,Canary Isles and Madeira and back to Southampton 13 Days. Felt I should give a little feedback.I compare to Thomson Destiny last year and expectation was to be of this cruise being a much upmarket ship
The embarkation went well with good organisation. First impressions of the ship were excellent when arriving from the holding area straight into the antrim,all brass and marble. We had our photos taken for the cruise card and were then left to find our own cabins although we were pointed to the lifts.
We had an inside cabin on A deck and found it to be very adequate and as big as most on other ships we had sailed in, complete with safe, tea/coffee and fridge. May I add this was kept spotless by our cabin steward.
We were on the new freedom dining,(we had tried to get 2nd sitting in the main dining room but that was full) however we found this new dining option worked very well,you needed to book your table daily from 7.30 in the morning for that day,most days it was sold out on the 8pm and 8.30pm sittings due to high demand by about noon,this showed how popular it was. This was a good way to meet different passengers each night and have a varied conversation rather than be with the same people for two weeks.
The food on the whole in the restaurant was quite good and always the option of a steak, salmon, or chicken if nothing took you're fancy.There was always somewhere to get food at any time,Excellent curries in the plaza at lunch, light snaks in the jardine buffet late evenings. Wine was anything from £12 upwards per bottle but you could also get a litre carraf for £14 which was quite allright.Service varied from good to poor some waiters worked well and others useless. The main staff were Indian/Goa and did not appear to be happy in there work like the Philipeano staff on previous ships.
Drinks were pub prices £2 for a can of Boddingtons/bottle of beer or larger and £2.25 for a pint of draught beer £2.50 a pint of draught larger. Most spirits about £2 and 75p for a small can of mixer. However in some of the bars it was sometimes difficult to taste any alcohol and on several occation we sent the drinks back to be replenished.We also found the drinks sevice on most occasions very slow.
The entertainment was available throughout the day with the usual deck games quizzes and bingo, golf driving nets and a simulator,lessons were available and games arranged by the pro at courses near to the ports, cost about £80 all in.
Evening entertainment were put on by a resident team in two impressive show lounges one which was set out like a theatre, they did quite a good job with the stage shows but only did about 5 different shows in 13 days as these were repeated the following day for those who missed.They also had a couple of celebrity act (all Comedians) only one TAFFY was quite good the others were very poor and found it hard to get any response from the audiance. The cruise director and his assistants had very little patter and appeared to straight laced.
Plenty of space on board for sun loungers although the stern got a little crowded when at sea due to the windy condition towards the front.
Children god luv em There were nearly 500 hundred on board (my fault for going during school holidays) the majority were ok but it was a little bit annoying to have many some only about 10-12 years old roaming the ship in groups and unsuppervised in bars/lifts/toilets into the small hours.
SUMMARY
Compared to Thomsons Destiny(Last Year)

1 Ship ..................Oceana 10...Destiny 8
2 Cabin.................Oceana 10...Destiny 8
3 Food...................Oceana 8.....Destiny 8
4 Drink..................Oceana 5.....Destiny 10
5 Entertainment......Oceana 5.....Destiny 9
6 Service...............Oceana 6.....Destiny 9
7 Friendliness.........Oceana 6.....Destiny 9
8 Cleanliness..........Oceana 9.....Destiny 8
9 Organisation........Oceana 9.....Destiny 8
10Value for Money..Oceana 7.....Destiny 9
11 Overall cruise.....Oceana 8.....Destiny 9

I have not commented on itinery as it was completly different from the previous year but it must be said it was a hard three days back from Madeira at sea whith poor weather.Think I might fly to the sun and cruise next year,especially if I can get a good deal again with Thomsons.
Hope this does not put you off P&O but does show that the more budget cruise company can do it just as well and better in some areas.
Kavmick

My first cruise, my partner's second. I was unsure about what to expect, but found the experience wonderful on the whole. The Oceana is stunning and there was precious little to find fault with.
We did however find that the cabin toilet smelt a bit stale.
The sleeping arrangements proved difficult as our eight year old was afraid to sleep in the upper berth due to the rough weather on the first night and we were told we could not double the beds together and use the upper bunk at the same time. This meant either myself or my partner had to use the upper bunk or share with the child. We raised this issue several times with the relevant staff but it was never resolved satisfactorily.
The choice and quality of dining onboard was superb and the service offered by the staff was polite, friendly and professional.
The entertainment on offer was excellent, with the Stadium Theatre company deserving special mention for their vigour and talent and for providing three fine shows which were enjoyed by full houses on each occasion.
We did our own thing ashore and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom offered by the shuttle bus service in all the ports.
We will definitely be looking at further cruising with P&O and have been recommending the experience to friends and family since our return.

This was our first cruise. Cruise ships come to our harbour all summer and for years we had looked at them and wanted to go on one. We booked 18 months in advance so were looking forward to it for ages! It was everything we'd expected and more - don't let those bad reviews put you off.
Our itinerary - Barbados, Tobago, St Lucia, St Kitts, Tortola, Azores, Southampton
I'll get our only moan out the way first - the flight to Barbados on Thomas Cook. The seats are rows of 3 blocks of 3, and we were soooo squashed. Steve is 6ft and he was more squashed than on the little 146jets that take us off Guernsey. The flight was 2 hours late (due to late inbound), we were expecting lunch more or less straight away (original departure time 1225), but instead an anouncement to the effect that as it was past lunch time the first meal would be afternoon tea. When we did arrive in Barbados the ship had had to be held to wait for our flight and we didnt get to see any of Barbados as it was night. Whinge over.
The ship was fantastic in every way. There is loads to do, even on sea days. Due to our itinerary and it being our first cruise and first time in the Caribbean we decided to do an organised tour on every island - ok it can be a bit pricey but its worth it for the info the guides give and what you see - and leave doing on board stuff till we crossed the Atlantic

Tobago
Here we were supposed to do a full day tour with a buffet lunch - however when we got on board we were told this tour was being discontinued as there had been some bad reports on previous cruises and that we would be rebooked onto other tours. Some people complained that they weren't told about it in advance but the majority were happy with the other tours offered and the fact that it was being discontinued if it wasn't satisfactory. We ended up on a tour which took us to the Mystery Tombstone, Fort St James and Fort King George, along with a drive around probably about half the island, looking at beaches, the rain forest and some of the fishing villages.
The town seemed really busy and bustling, and on a quick look there didn't seem to be much to do/see.
Out of all the islands we visited this is perhaps the one we liked the least, but after a long flight the day before we felt maybe we didnt do the island justice so I don't want to sound too negative about it.

St Lucia
This was a fab tour, made even more special because we had a realy cool guide. We did a tour of the rain forest in an open backed jeep, and our guide was constantly pointing things out to us, giving us loads of info and singing Bob Marley songs! We stopped in the middle of the rain forest to taste coconuts, mangos, breadfruit and bananas (totally different to the supermarket sort!) and then went to a waterfall surrounded by the most beautiful flowers, plants and wildlife.
There was a good little shopping village at the port, lots of t-shirts and local volcanic stone jewellery.

St Kitts
We did the railway tour, entertained by three ladies signing local songs. We did the railway first and then the drive back to the boat. Such a green island and really friendly kids at a primary school we passed - they all ran out to wave to us. The chilled pina colada and rum punch handed out throughout the journey was nice and cooling. The island is really pretty and there are good views to neighbouring islands.
The town here seemed a bit more organised, quite a few good gift shops in the Circus area. Also a very good local restuarant, Ballahoo's, above one of the gift shops - eat on a balcony overlooking the Circus.

Tortola
One of the most affluent islands in the Caribbean, but not immediately noticeable. Our tour took us round the coast to Frenchmans Cay, very nice marina area with old wooden cafe and shop area, then up some of the steepest, winding roads I've ever been up, along the top of the island. Then to Cane Garden Bay, has to be one of the best beaches I've ever seen, had a lovely dip here, but there are cafes and shops for those that don't want the beach.
Again, found a lovely little cafe for lunch by the marina in Road Town.

Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel island, Azores
Took a trip round the crater lakes, the Twin Lakes of Sete Cuidades are beautiful. Jeep trek took us round the rim of the lake on a dirt track, then down to the town on the shore of the lake, back up to the rim and down to the coast. I had heard mixed views on the Azores but they are beautiful, very green, lots of borganvillia flowers everywhere.

We left doing a lot of the stuff on the ship for at sea days, and we were not bored. There is an ample library (fiction & reference books, plus books to buy);
a cyberstudy where you can learn computer stuff if you don't already know how to email/send friends your holiday pics etc; the casino which although we didnt use it some of our dining companions did and seemed happy with.
I went in the Spa/salon one day and had a hot stone massage - absolute heaven. It cost £70 for 1 & 1/4 hours - at home that price would get me about 1/2 hour so well worth it. Darius is the man for that!
We couldnt fault any of our waiters/steward - always very polite and we were amazed how quickly they learnt everone's names and what drinks they liked. I don't drink wine, so Steve drank by the glass rather than a bottle for himself, and he alternated each night white/red and our wine waiter, Jay, picked up on this very quickly.

All in all, probably the best holiday we've ever been on and we are planning to cruise in the Med in a couple of years.

Like I said at the start, ignore the bad reviews, can't understand what their problem is!!!

This being our first ever cruise,we were so excited and we were not to be disapointed!

cruise was E603 tortola, antigua, st kitts, st vincent,st lucie, mayreau, trinidad, tobago, Isle margarita and barbados!

from Uk to barbados then onto ship, transfers were quick and very well organised, 1 hour from plane to Cabin.

we were in cabin F225, deck 5 right at the front, cabin was smaller than neighbouring ones but well layed out (take an over the door hanger with pockets for toiletries, this was invaluable, also take an extension plug sockets as there is only one in all cabins)fridges are big enough for 6 cans of lager and 6 x coke and 2 bottles of wine or 6 wine.


FOOD- breakfast in the Plaza offered all the usuall continental and full hot fayre, resaurant offered 3 courses and Cafe Jardin offered continental, porridge and hot panini's.

lunch- plaza offered a good choice, although popular foods seemed to not be topped up frequently and often were empty eg prawns and seafood, cakes and popular main meals, but there was still always a good choice.
restaurant offered 3 courses and cafe jardin did fab pizza, pasta, salad and sandwhiches.

Evening, we only dined in the main restaurant, but heard good reports of the Horizon (6.75 sup per person and 12 odd for seafood platter) our waiters were good at the start, went skew wiff in the middle and were good again on last few nights, if you didnt want coffee after first 2 nights we wernt offered it again until we asked, but just a minor glich, we had excellent table companions, others wernt so lucky, but a quick word with maitre d soon sorted it. meals were excellent first week and the second bit there seemed to be an awful lot of lentil and liver choices but still something to suite all tastes and every evening you could always go for steak, chicken or salmon as an alternative, vegitereans seemed well catered for with the maitre d bringing the next nights menu around each night.

deck BBQ (on ship ) at mayreau was good, I was looking forward to a bit steak, but there was only chicken,pork, burgers and sausages and what we thought was steak turned out to be liver????????? whats that all about, my hubby has a butchers shop and we have loads of bbq's, never have we thought to include liver in one, I thought that was a bit cheapskatey for a 5 star ship.

we also went to choc lovers buffet, vast array of cakes and desserts, one thing we found tho at that and for dessert in resaurant many tasted the same although looked very different, still felt stuffed and happy when I left lol.
Seafood buffet was excellent, a waiter served, you prawns and mussles, the rest you helped yourself too, it was all seafood, a bit of salad would have been a nice accompniment.

Over all the food was very good.

DRINKS

I found spirits like vodka to be watered down (we even witnessed it being done), I ordered all 4 vodkas on the menu at one point and all tasted the same?? I know my smirnoff

prices
£1.90 for full size can of newcastle brown
draft beer £2.40
small cans of stella etc £1.65
spirits ranged between £1.80 and £2.40
mini cans of soft drinks 85p (so take plenty of your own.
maximise on cocktail of the day £2.35 not much alcohol tho'.

extra payments for coffee in restaurant of £1.25/35 for expresso or capuccino etc.

Cleanliness - ship was spotless, constant cleaning, painting, varnishing (all very descrete)cabins spotless and all subject to inspections too. restaurants all had either waiter with antibac hand spray or dispenser on wall and it was good to see all using them.

Staff, 99% were exceptionaly friendly and very helpful, cafe jardin seemed to hold the most miserable of staff, we all have off days but some never raised a smile or responded to a hello/thanks etc on several occassions that we visited.

Entertainment- musical shows were good but not exceptional, comedy was toned down a lot lol, martin daniles and smart move were excellent.

plenty to do on sea days, quoits and shuffleboard comps, dances, slot machine tournaments and bingo- beware books are £5 each so 6 will cost you £30, our table and back row alone books came to £110, there were loads in the lounge yet prize money for all 5 games didnt even scratch £100, we worked out the must make aprox £400 per session, Jeeeez! was full on last night for snowball tho' was so pleased a regular won.
Beware the art auctions!!!!!! 99 % are only prints and all dont include the frames, they are sometimes looking for £3000-£6000 for prints, unbelievable, if you go, go for the free champers!!

TOURS-We did 3 tours with P and O, stingrays in Antigua- which was excellent and a skiff took you aprox 2 miles of shore for an amazing experience, worth every penny.
St Lucia, we went to sandals, if you have this booked my suggestion would be to cancel, not worth the £78 each, it took 40 mins through a run down housing est to get there and only 5 mins to return- why???? although sandals is fab, they at first would not serve us lunch as they had no records, so we had to stand aside till they made a few phone calls, not what we were expecting.
Rhumba on the chive, Isle margharits- best £20 we spent, absolutely fab day, great sights and views, fab beach and plent of rum punch.

DRESS CODE- formal was just that, an amazing array of gowns and full lenghtdresses also some cocktail dresses, most men wore tuxedos only one or two with suites, a few ladies wore t shirt and skirts, think they got a shock and dressed better on all other formal nights.
smart casual - everyone still dressed up,, guys wore open shirts and trousers, some with an occassional lounge suite, ladies wore dresses/outfits and cocktail
dresses

We had a tropical night- get your worst shirts ready!
Black and white ball was excellent one lady turned up in a bright orange trouser suite, boy did she stand out- I think she would have stood out any night and not just this one LOL.

day wear is beach wear and casual, but you must cover up for restaurants.

Ships photographers are everywhere prices range from 5.95 for 7 x 5 restaurant/tropical/pirate photos etc and £12.95 for formal night ones but they are good.

ports.
Tortola, pretty island, took taxi to cane garden Bay (fab beach) at 9 am it was fine by 10 am it was jam packed and we were the only ship in, $20 each way taxi 4 sharing. coke/water $2, beers $4.

Antigua- beautiful island-stingray with P and O, worth the money, fab day, photos to buy $15 each.

St Kitts, $10 water taxi to frigate bay, was a trip in itself, ate and drank at Mr X shigiddy shack, fab beach and water but sadly could have been a bit cleaner, was strewn with litter.wonderful friendly people. try to pay on st kitts money as supermarket tries to rip you off in dock when converting to us$. very expensive we paid £25 for 6 small cans of stella and 3 bags of crisps!! smirnoff vodka £4.50 in liquor shops all spirits were so cheap.

St Lucia- sandals trip (see above) beautiful location and beach area

St vincent, prettiest, cleanest island we visited, would love to holiday here, went to villa bay, so perfect, best swimming all holiday, you can get a water taxi which takes you over to young island but villa was a jewel itself so we didnt bother.

Mayreau- fab private island, lots of stalls, we went over the hill to saltwhistle bay, the beach there is stunning and only a sprinkling of people too, consider taking a water taxi or car $5 each way each if you are not fit its a hell of a climb but worth it.


Isle margharita - we did rhumba on the chiva, highly reccomended, bit of a dirty island but the people are amazing and very friendly. get all your souveniers here, market is excellent and there is a small beach at end of dock, atmosphere is excellent here!

trinidad- didnt like here at all its a fuelling stop, not a pretty dock and it is the only port where the captain warns you to be careful, our guide told us that rapes, kidnapping and robbery were rife, consider a trip with p and o here, we paid $80 for 4 to maracas beach, we were offered a city tour first, dont do it, you sit in traffic worse than NY and London combined and it eats into your 4 hours it took us almost 2 hours to get there leaving us just over an hour at the beach, we ended up paying another $20 for an extra hour. also all toilets were locked, p and o tour went here there were ructions on.

Tobago- loved here as much as st vincent, so clean and friendly, such a contrast to trinidad.
We took a taxi to Pigeon point which was postcard perfect ($3 addmission fee) taxi $20 for 4 each way.
beach was very busy when we got there so we walked all the way along and round the corner, beach was almost deserted and a lot breezier which was welcome considering how hot it was, excellent icecream from a stall on the beach.

Barbados, what a huge island, we went to the boatyard $12 in, $3 to get ther in shuttle van, got lounger and cocktail and use of water tramolines, swings and rock climbing in water, great relaxing last day, fries from restaurant were good, seafood platter was a rip off and didnt even have a third of the stuff on,


duty free, cigs ranged from $10 for 200 cheap brand to $30 for 400 well known, all spirits etc cheapest here, so buy in barbados for returning home or going out if your onboard early enough.

return to airport was swift but be warned only loo's and 1 small cafe in cruise terminus at airport, this section was packed so stock up with drinks/food etc before you go.

flights were good in and out, food was good but leg room is a bit tight for those taller than 5 foot 8.

completely fab holiday, hooked, cant wait to go again, Oceana put all other cruise ships we wsaw in the shade, we highly recommend her!!!

Well, where do we start!! My husband and I travelled on this ship - as a special holiday - to celebrate our Silver Wedding at the end of Feb 2006. What a wonderful time we had. Everything about this holiday was first class. This was our first ever cruise and obviously we were a little apprehensive. We had heard lots of good reports from my parents who are frequent cruisers and also recommendtions from friends. It turned into one of the best holidays we have ever had. Added to the fact that the ship far exceeded our expectations, the attraction of the Caribbean beaches was confirmed as soon as we saw the first one and the friendliness of the crew, fellow 'cruisers' and also the locals, the most magical day for me was when we renewed our wedding vows on board. This was a surprise 'gift' from my husband and took place (ceremony conducted by the Captain) in the Captain's Lounge early one evening prior to a formal dinner. P&O made us feel so very special and gave us a day to remember forever - as did our new found 'friends'. From start to finish this was lovely. P&O have an on board florist who was desperate to please and personally delivered the selected flowers to our room on the day. This was also Oceanas chosen evening for this Champagne Waterfall - which was a super 'show' to remember on our special day. We have nothing but praise for everybody & everything concerned with the running/co-ordinating of Oceana and are now 'hooked' - having already been looking as to when/where we will cruise to next! Some of these reports on this site, which we obviously read before our holiday, left us with thoughts/concerns as to whether we had done the right thing. I am so pleased to say that these were totally 'put to bed' after experiencing it for ourselves. If you have any desire to cruise but obviusly have reservations, get on with it - now - you'll be pleased you did. We certainly were!

This is a nice ship whose staff can't do enough for you.It's clean enough.Having sailed with it's sister company Princess i was obviously in a position to compare. I would say the Princess cruises are much more classier and the food is better. I didn't think the choices in the main dinner restaurants were great and the food was not as good as princess. eg small steaks. Many of our party took steaks as they didn't like the choices. Eg liver was on the menu 3 times. This would not have been acceptable on an amaerican cruise. That said it was nice enough.
The entertainment was reasonably good with the excellent shows by stadium theatre company and decent singers. Could have been better timed to suit the 2nd sitting diners. It was a rush to go and see a show at times. The yacht and compass is a nice bar but lacked lively entertainment as the british customers were more lively than the Americans, i felt a band every 2 nights would have went down better than a pianist or background music. I did get a good deal so i had value for money but would opt for a Princess cruise or Carnival the next time. If this had been my 1st cruise i would have loved it though. The Island trips could be expensive if booked via the ship. Better to arrange yourself. The drink prices were reasonable and as i said the mainly Indian staff were pleasant and helpful. It was a nice experience. The Thomson flights Glasgow to Barbados were superb with great comfort and food. You are just off the plane and onto a bus with 45 mins transfer- Excellent!