p+o oceana with children!!!help needed!!to go or not to go!!

[medicalman]

:confused: Hello everybody ,

 

this is my first post on this site i am thinking about going on the oceana in july 2006,there will three of us two adults and one eight year old girl,we looked at the video we got from p+o and it looked very stuffy people in suits all day long and long romantic evening meals,i did not see a single child in the video and my point is has any body been on this ship and are children aloud in the main dinning areas and are children aloud in the shows in the evening,i have looked on p+o site and it mentions an early sitting for children so the adults can eat later!!!!!!is there lots of children on this cruise ship??lots for them to do? etc etc etc?

 

any help would be great

 

p.s its my parents who are pushing us to go with them they want to take there grandaughter on a cruise!!!!

[karen2cruz]

If they really want their granddaughter to have a good time, I would recommend Disney, Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Princess. They have dedicated kids programs. Princess would probably be the closest in "elegance" to the Oceania, but still allow a kid to be a kid.

 

Have a great cruise whatever you decide!

[athurstance]

Our first cruise was on P&O Oceana. We cruised at Xmas but if you go July/August in the school holidays you will find lots of children on board. Oceana is a beautiful ship and the kids club was amazing. My sons were 8 and 10 on the cruise and loved every minute. The Kids club crew were brilliant.

Children are allowed anywhere - shows, meals etc. The only places they're not allowed are the adults only pool and the casino.

It is a British ship and it is more 'formal' on formal nights than our experience of US ships. Almost everyone will dress up tux/dinner jacket and the remainder in dark suit. Children in shirt tie/nice dress are fine though.

They have a children's tea late afternoon/early evening which the kids can attend with the club but they will be assigned a seat at your table for your dinner sitting (6pm or 8pm kids welcome at both) and you'll find the wait staff more than happy to serve them. Our wait staff were excellent and couldn't do enough for the boys who are quite fussy eaters.

Ours lived in the kids club, made loads of new friends and became cruise addicts and couldn't wait for their next cruise.

We've also cruised on the Disney Magic which of course is fantastic for kids (we had a great time too). I asked my two and they said they preferred the setup on the Oceana slightly although they loved both cruises.

[kitty9]

I personally feel there are better choices for family friendly cruise lines, other than P&O. RCCI, NCL, Carnival and Disney are much better suited for families. Unless you're European, you might not really feel comfortable with a completely British cruising experience. I'm definitely not knocking P&O, they have a great product, but for kids, there are other choices.