P&O v Oceania

We often see P&O v Cunard or Fred but I thought I would add one v Oceania. With P&O seemingly going a bit downmarket and often now being described as Butlins on sea there may be many people wondering where to go to get a better standard. So we tried an Oceania cruise on Riviera to the Eastern Med. And here are a few thoughts.

If you are one of the many who think £100 a day is toppy then this is not for you. Around £150 a day is usual for a basic balcony cabin.

You will almost always have to fly out to join the ship. Check carefully as fare includes flights but not transfers. And Oceania don't mess about. All extras are expensive. Our agent arranged private transfers for us at Istanbul at a third of the cost of Oceania.

Oceania pride themselves on their food and rightly so. Outstanding. I think P&O grub is good but this was in a different league. Four speciality restaurants and all free. Food in mdr and cafe also outstanding. Even in the cafe it is linen tablecloths and excellent service. Forget the bun fight on P&O.

All soft drinks, coffees, non alcoholic drinks and cocktails are free. Brilliant. But booze is not cheap. 12 dollars a cocktail is normal plus 12% on everything. Cheapest bottle of wine is a jaw dropping 42 dollars.

Cabins are the best we have had. Bathroom is all marble with separate shower cubicle and bath. The soap etc all designer brands. Superb.

Excursions are expensive but... They have a great idea. Buy 5 and you get a big discount. Or buy a passport and they are all included. We bought this for £500 each. Cost of excursions would have been over £1100 each so a good deal.

Their ships are either 1200 or 800 pax so smaller than anything on P&O.

So quick round up for you. Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer.

We often see P&O v Cunard or Fred but I thought I would add one v Oceania. With P&O seemingly going a bit downmarket and often now being described as Butlins on sea there may be many people wondering where to go to get a better standard. So we tried an Oceania cruise on Riviera to the Eastern Med. And here are a few thoughts.

If you are one of the many who think £100 a day is toppy then this is not for you. Around £150 a day is usual for a basic balcony cabin.

You will almost always have to fly out to join the ship. Check carefully as fare includes flights but not transfers. And Oceania don't mess about. All extras are expensive. Our agent arranged private transfers for us at Istanbul at a third of the cost of Oceania.

Oceania pride themselves on their food and rightly so. Outstanding. I think P&O grub is good but this was in a different league. Four speciality restaurants and all free. Food in mdr and cafe also outstanding. Even in the cafe it is linen tablecloths and excellent service. Forget the bun fight on P&O.

All soft drinks, coffees, non alcoholic drinks and cocktails are free. Brilliant. But booze is not cheap. 12 dollars a cocktail is normal plus 12% on everything. Cheapest bottle of wine is a jaw dropping 42 dollars.

Cabins are the best we have had. Bathroom is all marble with separate shower cubicle and bath. The soap etc all designer brands. Superb.

Excursions are expensive but... They have a great idea. Buy 5 and you get a big discount. Or buy a passport and they are all included. We bought this for £500 each. Cost of excursions would have been over £1100 each so a good deal.

Their ships are either 1200 or 800 pax so smaller than anything on P&O.

So quick round up for you. Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer.

We tried out Oceania for the first time last month and I agree with everything you said! The only additional comment I would make would be to comment on the SPACE! No 'packing 'em in' on board that ship. Lots of space between tables, on deck, in the library, etc. Made for a really calm atmosphere (especially a fairly fraught journey from Istanbul airport!).

We have looked at Oceania but as we have to go in school holidays and book well in advance the prices always seem to be beyond us. If we could hang on and wait for a good deal we would definitely give it a go.

It's now our cruise line of choice.

Simon you forgot to say that you can take booze on board for cabin consumption with Oceania's free mixers, although we've been lucky enough to get free drink packages with our cruises. Also captains cocktail party is not 30 minutes long but free bars for 2 hours- hic

The only downside for me is that there is no tea and coffee making facilities in the cabins and the entertainment is basic.

I do love being able to eat lobster twice a day and every day:D

Our cruise was very good value, as it was originally scheduled to visit the Crimea and Ukraine - but was pulled just after the brochure was published. The 'all in' price has to be compared according to what you like. If you want to drink lots of wine at dinner, then spend the evenings in the bars, the prices are horrendous! However, my friend is teetotal and I'm a fairly modest drinker but we loved the speciality restaurants, for which there are no extra charges. My friend loves to drink a 'cocktail-looking' drink and even the 'mocktails' in the bars were included, as were coffees and teas (other than 'Irish Coffee-type' mixes. I took a couple of bottles of wine on board with me, as we could have the food from the speciality restaurants served in the cabin, so we had room service a couple of nights.

We usually stick to 'Club Dining' on P & O (where I drink their wine every night), with the addition of a couple of visits to the Speciality Restaurants. P & O is more 'social', too (at least when you dine with the same people every night), so we're more likely to socialise with others in the bars, which increases on board spending. Added to which, P & O seem to be charging for lots of little things which are included on Oceania, so we ended up probably spending about the same overall.

(Oh, and the previous comment about the Cocktail parties is absolutely right: when I was offered yet more Champagne, I looked at my watch, as we had a dinner reservation. The stewardess just laughed at me looking at my watch and said, 'You're not driving, are you?': they were definitely encouraging everyone to drink whatever they wanted!).

My cruise on Nautica was one of the best certainly, and even sailed to/from Southampton - great for a trial of Oceania.

What struck me most of all was how friendly all the other passengers were - mostly Americans (only about 10 Brits on board), and how polite too - nearly all the men stood up when we joined a table at dinner. Another world indeed.

We were also in high demand at the team trivia to answer the UK-based questions!!