Emperors & Espresso - no holes barred review |
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Reviewed By: Shah, Pinner on 30th Jun 2009
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| Cruise Line: Ocean Village Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Ocean Village |
Sailed:
June,
2009 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 36-45 |
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Just got back today from an Ocean Village cruise sailing around the Med. I thought I would give a thorough review of the cruise as other reviews were focused on certain aspects. If you think I am rambling, then apologies but this should help you decide whether to book or not.
My overall opinion - well worth it and would definitely consider going again but this time on the alternative destinations.
The review: From flying from Gatwick to getting on board the ship the operation was pretty slick. The whole thing is pretty well planned, What was not was the hour it took for the bags to come out at Palma airport. Must have been siesta time - at 10.00am. We actually had cruised before but this was the first time we took our 4 year old son. We have done a few beach holidays and we thought this would make a change for him.
The main selling factor of the cruise is the lack of formality, and this is definitely true with people going to dinner in t-shirts and shorts. However, surprisingly many people also took the opportunity to dress up in casual style even at the buffet restaurants. The staff are very good, they say 22 nationalities work on the ship, but I only spotted four at most. Look after your cabin steward and he will look after you, be polite and curteaus, obvious things some people forget when on holiday, and you get a friendly host always wanting to help (and get a decent tip at the end - though tipping is never mentioned by anyone!!). What won me over was the kids club - a really well run facility with many many different activities for the kids. My 4 year old son begged us not to take him on the excursions and leave him at the club all day. I cannot praise the club highly enough. We were fortunate that the club was on our deck (level 11) and so very convenient. We could leave him there for a couple of hours or just 15 minutes. It was really up to us.
Cabins - we were on A deck or level 11, with a nice large window. Always good to have natural sunlight bursting through your room. There is lots of storage space, more than you can imagine. They are cleaned daily. We were very pleased with our room. I am not sure how big or comfortable the cabins were on the lower decks. The only problem with our cabin was that every time sun beds were being moved, you could hear that in your room.
Food - we have heard all the horror stories about food on other ships, but here I found it better than I expected. After a few days the lunches end up looking like dinner, but there was variety, with Indian, French, Italian etc nights. They take cleanliness very seriously and expect you to use the 'hospital gel' to clean your hands every time you walk into any restaurant. If a kid has been sick, they segregate the area and a man in a white suit will clean the area - a bit extreme but it goes to show how serious they are. Breakfast is standard, lunch and dinner do vary and in between they have scones, sandwiches. After dinner out come burgers and chips. However, all drinks, are payable, but at prices you would expect to pay in a regular pub.
The big sell is for James Martin's endorsed restaurant - the Bistro. If you go three times, you save 16% of the cover charge i.e. save a total of £6. Is it worth it - some say yes, some don't. But where would you get pretty decent food for less than £30 a couple whilst the equivalent restaurant in London would set you back £40/head. The other restaurant where there is a cover charge (dinner only) is at La Luna and at half the rate of the Bistro. We only went for lunch as pizzas were free but they charged for chips and it made a change from the buffet restaurants. However, back to the kids, the Plantation restaurant had a daily kids menu from 5.15pm to 6pm which was again not bad, and with jelly and ice-cream included it was a hit with some of the kids. The big sell with OV is the lack of formality, where you can have dinner in shorts and t-shirt, but surprisingly many people did dress up, us included.
On board entertainment - if you have cruised before then you'll know what you are going to get here, quizzes, eating competitions, and other games. They also put on the ship's singers. The highlight is the evening shows, they were good, and the best bit was they repeated the show at 10pm if you missed the 8pm ones. The big show is on the Saturday night where it takes place on the top deck, pretty awesome to think these are taking place in the open air. The singers - a couple are typical cruise singers, the duo, are very good and the lead singers from the dance act are also very good.
Excursions - in other reviews I didn't find much reviews written about the excursions, so I might as well make up for that. On the whole they are considered to be and are expensive. A standard trip for two adults and a 4 year old will set you back £100 and that’s only for a half day, though a full day will be a few pounds more.
Tunis - in my opinion don't bother - not worth buying any trips, and in fact OV realise this and do not really push Tunis that much. You are only there for a half day. If you do want to see the city, then do the official trips, as there are scare stories of people getting ripped off by taxi drivers, and ruining the rest of the hols.
Naples - again expensive excursions, we just went for a walk around the main town, but I heard the climb on Mount Vesuvius was really worth it.
Florence /Pisa - although we had previously been to these places before, we took our son on a half day trip to Pisa to effectively see the leaning tower. Although expensive, I consider the trip to be useful purely from an education perspective. You could do the trip yourself, but do your research on costs beforehand, as you may only save a few pounds and so the trolley train might be better value.
Monaco/Monte Carlo - a lot of walking and watching the lives of the rich and famous and even more expensive, no wonder there is no income tax here, the tourists support the economy
Corsica - we were booked on the turtle watching trip, but we cancelled this as we were so exhausted from Monte Carlo. I later heard from another couple, who said this was the worst trip ever, and they would never recommend it. The only good part was the beach you get taken to - but would you pay £50-£60 to sit on a beach?
I can only comment on what we saw and what others related to us, so be careful with booking them as everyone said they are expensive, and don’t be pushed into pre-booking them. Ask the staff who sometimes go out (not the excusrions staff) - they are likely to give you honest opinions.
Sunbeds - a cruise ship is no different to a beach holiday - people leave their towels on them and then disappear for hours. Although there a policy of removing the towels if no-one is there for more than 30 mins, I am not sure this is ever enforced. However, where a ship is in port for a full day, there are plently of beds available and the pools are nice and empty and cold.
Negatives - the ship does look tired, and I heard both OV and OV 2 are going to Germany fora re-fit before they start on their Australian tour of duty. Therefore, get a OV cruise in before it leaves and we get something poorer as a replacement.
My main tip - always make friends with your fellow passengers, you pick up so much from others, and it makes the whole cruise experience a whole lot more enjoyable
Enjoy....
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