I am back!

[davecttr]

Dave, did you say you get P &O loyalty discount on Princess, because my brother didn't seem to think you could, or is it because you have shares?

At the moment any loyalty benefits from P&O also apply to Princess cruises so on my Emerald Princess cruise next year i am already several levels up in the Captains Circle which is their loyalty club, similar to P&O's Peninsular club. For some reason the benefits do not apply the other way around :confused:

[davecttr]

Mmm, that's interesting and I can see your point. We would be back with Thomson in the blink of an eye if only they had more balcony cabins. We think that Thomson cruisers are, in general, much friendlier and more laid back. P&O cruisers, again in general, aren't exactly snooty (got nothing to be snooty about IMO) but not quite as friendly either and we'd never touch the P&O adult only ships with a bargepole again as they tend to be a much older age group and whilst we're not exactly youngsters ourselves any more, we do love and enjoy mixing with younger people as well as our own age group.

 

Bring back Ocean Village! :D:D

Yep, see my signature ;)

 

On Arcadia one night at midnight they started playing 'white cliffs of dover'. I nearly fell of my blackjack seat. it was priceless, they even had little flags for folks to wave. I commented that if you were old enough to remember that one when it came out you were either in bed or dead :D

[Sheila49]

 

Bring back Ocean Village! :D:D

 

I agree! It was like Thomsons with lots of balconies for very little extra!:)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Oh pleeeeze no - leave Ocean Village where it is - in Australia! Awful ship!

[Sheila49]

We were on OV2 and loved it! But, it was our first cruise, which I think everyone loves. The entertainment was very good. Also the itinerary was brilliant, Adriatic and Aegean.

[davecttr]

We were on OV2 and loved it! But, it was our first cruise, which I think everyone loves. The entertainment was very good. Also the itinerary was brilliant, Adriatic and Aegean.

 

I was on a Ventura fly cruise last month and staff aboard did mention they would prefer moving the ships home base from Venice to say Crete where Ocean Village was based. This would allow for more flexibility in itineries.

 

IMO 2 ships based in east and west med are ideal. Thomson do it and perhaps P&O want to as the current management seem to be trying to reinvent the company to appeal to a younger audience. Next year they are splitting their fleet into a 'traditional' group with 3 dress codes and 'modern' group with only 2. The new ship Britannia will be in the latter group.

[davecttr]

Oh pleeeeze no - leave Ocean Village where it is - in Australia! Awful ship!

 

What was wrong with OV Linda, please tell :)

 

which OV was it.

 

Heres a funny one. While discussing the possible return to Thomson with the TA I mentioned Escape. They gave me a funny look and suggested as a previous P&O customer i might like to give that one a miss, although, they assured me, lots of people love the old ship.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Well, it was Ocean Village 2. It was our second cruise. Our first was Celebration in the Red Sea and we loved it. When we got on the OV2, I thought how drab it seemed. We had to wait ages to get in our cabin, which actually was very nice as was the food, but there the praise ends :rolleyes:

 

We wanted to cruise and stay but were only allowed to do stay and cruise, so we chose a hotel in Santa Ponsa, which was very nice, with the biggest buffet I have ever seen :D and spoilt us for the cruise really.

 

Anyway I digress!

 

The ship was full of children, so quite noisy. There was no dining room, only a buffet, which we didn't mind, and as I said the food was very good, but call me a snob, but I do like to make a bit of an effort to look smart for dinner, so don't really want to sit with people in vests and shorts, with tattoos all up their arms :p (Comedian on one cruise asked who had been on Ocean Village - a few of us gingerly raised our hands! He then made everyone chuckle when he said "Ocean Village's idea of a formal night is a clean vest")

 

The places we visited were good, Barcelona, Villefrance (went to Monte Carlo) and Civitavecchia. Tunis - a bit tatty, but interesting :D but really didn't like the ship. Informality is one thing but.............

 

Still, as I have said before it wouldn't do for us all to like the same ship! We love the Majesty, but know others hate it. Of all the ships we have been on, the two I would not return to, are OV2 or IOTS (don't ask!) I sort of think, IE might be the same type of ship, but as I haven't been on it I'd better not comment (before RR jumps in to defend it, lol)

 

I know of two people who went on OV" for their first (and only ;);)) cruise!

[Essexlass2]

I'd like to think you are in the minority with your views on OV, Linda. However, we only ever sailed on OV1, two cruises - Eastern and Western Caribbean, and loved her both times. We found everyone dressed for dinner and whilst there was a buffet, it was more like a main dining room than the scramble type buffet on many ships. Passengers on both cruises were on a par with our Thomson friends and the itineraries, entertainment and food were good too.

 

As you say Linda, it wouldn't do for us all to be the same ......... different strokes for different folks an' all that.

 

I hope you're feeling much better now too, Linda. :)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thanks Essexlass. DH seems to have gone down with it now! I'm OK, but my daughter and I still feeling "not quite right" if you know what I mean. Lovely weather today though, makes you feel better.

 

I did hear that OV1 was better than 2, so maybe that explains it :)