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Just returned from 16 night cruise on Ocean Princess from Shanghai to Bangkok, calling at Okinawa in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong (overnight), Vietnam, Singapore, Ko Samui (Thailand). Ocean Princess has just been refurbished and changed its name from Tahitian Princess. It’s a small ship with about 650 passengers plus 350 crew. My comments are based on my experience of 20 cruises from QM2 at 150,000 tons down to ships at 16,000 tons and 7 different cruise companies.
The ship itself was generally good with excellent décor, wood panelling and up-market furniture and fittings in the various lounges and the excellent library. The deck areas were fine and there were no problems in getting deck sun loungers, even for our group of 9 to sit together. The pool was small, but adequate for the size of ship, always heated and was flanked by 2 hot tubs. The staterooms were of reasonable size with a 2 seat couch, small bathroom and shower, but with reasonable sized balconies. Food was good with adequate choice in the self-service restaurant, but I can imagine some cruisers familiar with larger ships not being as happy about the range of choice. Evening meals in the well-appointed dining room were to the usual fancy standard, but we were unfortunate to have a waiter who made silly mistakes at every meal - more meals served to the wrong person than we have experienced on the previous 19 cruises put together! This was despite our complaints.
Captain Stefano Ravera was excellent and could be seen every day walking around the ship, talking to guests and even joining everyone in the pool. What a refreshing change to some Captains who are never seen! The Maitre’D was very helpful with a wonderful personality and all other staff were friendly and co-operative.
The small size of Ocean Princess made it a friendly ship, with no queues when getting on or off, but the disadvantage was that the entertainment was very limited. Part of our reason for cruising is to enjoy a good evening dinner followed by a good show, but they were disappointing. In the first few days the shows for the second sitting diners were after the evening meal, but then they were moved to before the meal, at a time when we wanted to wind down, have a drink and get ready for the evening. Consequently, after dinner there was very little to do apart from sit in a lounge or go to the casino! Fortunately one of the pianists, David Crathorne, was excellent and kept us entertained with his songs. Daytime entertainment was also poor – the usual ice carving, napkin folding, bingo and art auctions. Lectures on the various countries we visited were interesting but laboured, but the wine tasting was at an unusually good price. Nothing else was. Adding 15% to all drink prices is ridiculous. We cancelled the automatic tipping as this is just a surcharge, then we tipped those who gave a good service. The tours were also expensive so we organised all our own via the internet at less than half the cost with better itineraries. Having 9 in our party made this easier. In Vietnam we called at Chan May and Phu My which were1 hour and 2 hours drive from anywhere. Both ports had no facilities –one had a mud road, the other was a commercial port. Princess trying to save money? Even the crew complained as they could not go anywhere in their 2 hours ashore!
Despite small grievances, we thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience of ship and interesting countries. This was made all the better by staying an extra 2 days at the start in Shanghai and the end in Bangkok. The saving made by booking our own flights paid for the hotels, food and sightseeing!
Quality of Food
Good but limited range in the buffet and sandwich bar. Good food in the dining room, spoiled by the service of our particular waiters.
Entertainment
Poor shows with just 2 singers and 6 dancers and little variety. Changing the show time for the second sitting diners from after dinner, to before dinner, stopped us from going. What should have been a cruise highlight was ruined for us!
Shore Excursions
Only went on one - to Ko Samui, an island off Thailand. Excellent 4WD tour with riding on elephant and ox-cart. All other tours organised by ourselves through the internet at massive saving. Having a party of 9 made that more economical.
Staff
The Captain was excellent, touring the ship every day and talking to passengers.
Children's Facilities
n/a
Onboard Activities
Poor range of daily activities, but you perhaps have to accept it on a small ship - or do you?. Went to various lectures about the countries we visited, attended a nice wine tasting, joined the ships choir and performed on stage but that was about it.
Cabins
The cabin was of a reasonable size and included a 2 seat couch. Nice furniture and fittings. Good sized balcony.
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