Oceana Cruise E420 to the Canary Islands

[Cruise_lover11]

Hi everyone,

 

I am just looking for everyone's opinions of Oceana and if you would recommend a cruise on her, as we are considering the cruise above in July. We have previously been with P&O Azura, Ventura and Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, therefore I would be interested to know how a mid-sized ship compares to a larger ship. Do you feel a lot more movement etc?

 

I have looked up reviews and they seem to be mixed.

 

We are looking at balcony cabins and at the moment we are looking at deck B. Any recommendations on which deck is best would be appreciated. Also experience from anyone that has stayed in a balcony cabin on Oceana.

 

Thank you :)

[Brayman]

Oceana may be smaller than the big cruise ships of today but she is still a cruise ship of considerable size. We've done Canaries, Med and Fjords in her and enjoyed every minute.

[Cruise_lover11]

That's good to hear, we would definitely like to try a different ship. Did you notice it being less crowded with queues etc as this would be ideal after the busier ships :)

[Brayman]

That's good to hear, we would definitely like to try a different ship. Did you notice it being less crowded with queues etc as this would be ideal after the busier ships :)

 

Most definitely, Tiffany's still gets busy but is a lovely place to sit in the evening.

[wilson2579]

We loved Le Club and the hilarious karaoke:o

[Flowerpower22]

We've sailed on her to the Med in a balcony cabin which was very spacious. She has a lovely atrium and a good layout. I feel movement on any ship but we experienced a force 9 in the BOB on this one and she handled it well.

 

If you are worried about seasickness, go for midships and as low down as you can get. Having a balcony is great if you are feeling a bit green as you can get some fresh air any time you need it.

[Clodia]

Definitely shorter and fewer queues on Oceana compared with Azura. I love the mid sized ships. They're big enough to take rough seas but small enough to feel a comfortable level of personal service.

[Cruise_lover11]

Thank you for all of your responses, glad to hear such positive comments.

 

We have done a lot of research into Oceana as well on top of looking on here and it has made us even more keen to book so think we will be doing so :D

[SDadw01]

Avoid the self service restaurant, the food is not very good!

[wilson2579]

Avoid the self service restaurant, the food is not very good!

 

Sorry to disagree with you. We found the buffet meals to be very good.

[davecttr]

Sorry to disagree with you. We found the buffet meals to be very good.

Yes, I will second that, the Plaza is a good alternative to the main dining room and you should find it quiet in the evenings.

[Cruise_lover11]

If the buffet is anything like other P&O ships food wise, I'm sure it will be fine :) Smaller queues would be a bonus too :)

[wilson2579]

Indian evening in the buffet is not to be missed.:)

[Clodia]

I don't often use the "Snatch and Grab" on any P&O ship as I dislike the queues and the atmosphere, but Oceana and Oriana are better than Azura for seats etc.

[Cruise_lover11]

We prefer to lunch in the buffet restaurant as we only have a light lunch of salad, soup or rolls etc and could not manage a dinner then the 3 course later as some people do. We found Ventura the worst for getting a table especially at breakfast so we don't tend to enter the buffet restaurant for breakfast as it's too manic for us.

[wilson2579]

We found Oceana so much better at breakfast than Ventura.

[Denarius]

Definitely shorter and fewer queues on Oceana compared with Azura. I love the mid sized ships. They're big enough to take rough seas but small enough to feel a comfortable level of personal service.

 

In context, Oceana at 77K tonnes is slightly bigger than the QE2 was, and only 3K tonnes short of the original Queen Mary. A couple of decades ago she would have been described as a very large ship.

Oceana has a much more relaxed feel than the larger ships, and queues are shorter. This is particularly true of tendering operations, where the limiting factor is often not the number of launches the ship can muster but the number the port quay can handle. Light breakfasts and lunches in the atrium restaurant are a pleasant alternative to the MDR of buffet, there are no equivalents on Ventura or Azura.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Denarius