Ocean Village is returning to UK - CMV

[annie, Glasgow]

Hi All

She will be renamed Columbus and home port is Tilbury.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articl...n-village-ship

Annie

[Hilifta, Auckland, NZ]

Hi Wilba, My wife and I sailed sailed to England from Sydney in October 1967 on the Arcadia. We did the only trip P&O ever did via Rio De Janeiro. We were in Rio at the same time as the Queen Mary, which was on her last trip round the Horn to Long beach. We met on board, and are now returning to cruise on the Columbus in June next year. We sailed on Columbus in 2014 as the Pacific Pearl and loved it. she really is a nice comfy ship. I have a full album of onboard shots on my flikr page if anybody is interested.
This will be our first cruise in Europe and we are really looking forward to it. We only farewelled the Pearl from Auckland a couple of weeks ago on it's last cruise for P&O Aust, to Singapore where it will be handed over to CMV. Mike

[Wilba]

We went on Arcadia beginning of 1990's with two children/young teenagers and we all loved it. I thought it was the first Arcadia but am now confused as I did not know there has been 3 in total. Also Spud says it was adult only which I know the current one is but obviously not the one we were on. We did hear onboard that it was going to be changed to Ocean Village sometime later and my kids were very disappointed that they would not be able to cruise on her again. Can anyone confirm which one we were on?

Morning Waterbaby,

Here is a scanned photo of Arcadia which entered service in 1954. Built as a passenger service ship between the UK and Australia, but as aviation became more and more the long haul option, Arcadia became more and more a cruise ship until her demise.

Originally a two class ship, First and Tourist, in 1970 she became a one class cruise ship until she was scrapped in 1979.

I think we all remember our first cruise ship with a degree of rose tinted affection, I know I still do and I can still remember the public rooms and ballroom as a lad in 1958, whereas in later cruising years I have no recollection whatsoever of some of the ships I cruised on.

[spud, newcastle]

We went on Arcadia beginning of 1990's with two children/young teenagers and we all loved it. I thought it was the first Arcadia but am now confused as I did not know there has been 3 in total. Also Spud says it was adult only which I know the current one is but obviously not the one we were on. We did hear onboard that it was going to be changed to Ocean Village sometime later and my kids were very disappointed that they would not be able to cruise on her again. Can anyone confirm which one we were on?

The Arcadia we were on was in 2002, it was an adults only cruise, but not an adults only ship.

[Topdeck, London]

This could bridge the gap between the current ships and something more appealing to the OH,

Tilbury is quite near us so handy for the shorter trips.

[Wilba]

There are more details of the ship and the cruises to be found here;
http://online.fliphtml5.com/ygsu/xfai/#p=1
looks like they are keeping all the current dining options.Offering a 1 night taster as the first cruise too.

Thanks for the info. I am off on my first CMV in a few weeks time for 8 nights, so I will be reporting back with blog and photos...........Wilba

[philhar, wallasey]

There are more details of the ship and the cruises to be found here;
http://online.fliphtml5.com/ygsu/xfai/#p=1
looks like they are keeping all the current dining options.Offering a 1 night taster as the first cruise too.

[philhar, wallasey]

The original MDR was at the rear of deck 2 which I understand became the Gym on OV

Isn't that Waterfront what was the canteen?...........or is it still the canteen?

Looking at the deck plans I cannot see an option for both an MDR and a canteen and thinking about CMV's passenger demographic, mature, traditional cruisers, they, like me are going to want to sit down to a white table cloth and waiter service...........Wilba

Hi Wilba,no the waterfront is definitely the formal dining room on deck 7 aft.the "canteen"(are you commenting on the standard of food? )is on Deck 12 aft currently called the Plantation.
If the deck plans are to scale the restaurant on deck 7 occupies the same amount of space as it did when it was on Deck 2.They probably didn't want to put it back there due to the vibration problems you mentioned.Your story of the wine glasses reminded me of dining on the Braemar where the juddering was so bad when we went at slow speed that most of the cutlery on our table fell off!

[Wilba]

Hi the Waterfront restaurant seats 800 so looks like it was returned when it became Pacific Pearl .There is also a speciality(75 seat) extra fee restaurant will be interesting to see what CMV do with that.
It had a refit in 2013 and they put in a zip wire and walk the plank,not sure that will survive!

The original MDR was at the rear of deck 2 which I understand became the Gym on OV

Isn't that Waterfront what was the canteen?...........or is it still the canteen?

Looking at the deck plans I cannot see an option for both an MDR and a canteen and thinking about CMV's passenger demographic, mature, traditional cruisers, they, like me are going to want to sit down to a white table cloth and waiter service...........Wilba

[philhar, wallasey]

No mention of reinstating a MDR though............Wilba

Hi the Waterfront restaurant seats 800 so looks like it was returned when it became Pacific Pearl .There is also a speciality(75 seat) extra fee restaurant will be interesting to see what CMV do with that.
It had a refit in 2013 and they put in a zip wire and walk the plank,not sure that will survive!

[Topdeck, London]

The move of the old Arcadia to Ocean village in 2003 resulted in a very odd cruise passenger behavior.

A good number of fans of the ship under the P&O regime just carried on booking the ship.

As you can guess not all were happy Ocean Village was not P&O.

[A Vast Behind, THATCHAM-SUR-MER]

Been on OV in the Caribbean, i liked it a lot. If you dont fancy dressing up, it was a good offering. But will C&M try to take her up market?

[Waterbaby, London]

We went on Arcadia beginning of 1990's with two children/young teenagers and we all loved it. I thought it was the first Arcadia but am now confused as I did not know there has been 3 in total. Also Spud says it was adult only which I know the current one is but obviously not the one we were on. We did hear onboard that it was going to be changed to Ocean Village sometime later and my kids were very disappointed that they would not be able to cruise on her again. Can anyone confirm which one we were on?

[Wilba]

We have a few more details about the new ship here!

No mention of reinstating a MDR though............Wilba

Hi All

She will be renamed Columbus and home port is Tilbury.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articl...n-village-ship

Annie

We have a few more details about the new ship here!