NYE CRUISE OCEANA

[claudiniusmaximus]

Hi Folks

 

Toying with booking the above cruise as just feel like I need a cheeky cruise and haven’t got one booked until June. 

 

Ive never done a Xmas/NYE cruise (or been on holiday over that period). The only other “peak season” cruise I’ve ever been on was aurora during August and we found the numbers of children a bit overhelming. It was a 17 day cruise with 10 sea days and by half way through the cruise the kids and teens had I think got a bit bored and the “best behaviour” of the first week had waned. They’d taken over the adults pool, and had reached the point where kids tearing through the bars and lounges at high speed or drunk teenagers hanging around stairwells or staggering around deck...well didn’t ruin the cruise for us but did take the shine off a bit. 

 

Just wondering if a NYE cruise is going to “feel” busy (as no one will be on deck) and if it’s likely to have lots of kids or booze cruisers. 

 

I know, I know, I sound like a curmudgeon. Ok, I am a bit of a curmudgeon 😬

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Hi Folks

 

Toying with booking the above cruise as just feel like I need a cheeky cruise and haven’t got one booked until June. 

 

Ive never done a Xmas/NYE cruise (or been on holiday over that period). The only other “peak season” cruise I’ve ever been on was aurora during August and we found the numbers of children a bit overhelming. It was a 17 day cruise with 10 sea days and by half way through the cruise the kids and teens had I think got a bit bored and the “best behaviour” of the first week had waned. They’d taken over the adults pool, and had reached the point where kids tearing through the bars and lounges at high speed or drunk teenagers hanging around stairwells or staggering around deck...well didn’t ruin the cruise for us but did take the shine off a bit. 

 

Just wondering if a NYE cruise is going to “feel” busy (as no one will be on deck) and if it’s likely to have lots of kids or booze cruisers. 

 

I know, I know, I sound like a curmudgeon. Ok, I am a bit of a curmudgeon 😬

 

To be honest, not really sure as we have never done a NYE cruise. What we can say is that Oceana is one of our favourite ships (including all other cruise lines and newer ships) and I am sure that she will look stunning. We are stuck to school holidays but would not imagine too many people taking families on this one as it is not warm and what would you do with the children with NO pool ?? Horror of horrors.

 

Perhaps it is just me but I would go for it and enjoy.

 

Love your post by the way - love the sense of humour. Hope we meet on a cruise one day :-)

[claudiniusmaximus]

Awh thanks 🙂

 

Funnily enough the Oceana was what got us into cruising. Some friends of ours did a cruise on her in 2008 and raved (it was their first cruise) about it. So we booked our first the following year (on Arcadia). 

 

We were on a princess ship earlier this year and booked on another princess next year. Oceana reminds me of princess from what I can see of it online etc (with P&Os own take on things of course). 

[zoe sproodle]

I'd definitely go for it, we were on Oceana last new year and had a great time. Yes, it was busy inside for the reason you mention but it didn't spoil it - we were a group of 6 sometimes joined by a couple of others and always managed to get seats where we wanted to be. There were kids on board but they didn't seem to be in any way unruly, which was generally true of everyone as the "booze cruisers" you speak of certainly didn't seem to be on board. And Presto is correct, the ship looked stunning decked out for the occasion.

[majortom10]

33 minutes ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Awh thanks 🙂

 

Funnily enough the Oceana was what got us into cruising. Some friends of ours did a cruise on her in 2008 and raved (it was their first cruise) about it. So we booked our first the following year (on Arcadia). 

 

We were on a princess ship earlier this year and booked on another princess next year. Oceana reminds me of princess from what I can see of it online etc (with P&Os own take on things of course). 

Oceana would remind you of a Princess ship because she was built for Princess in 2000 and sailed as Ocean Princess before being passed on to P&O in 2003.

[claudiniusmaximus]

Ok great thanks for the input - think will go for it. Will check our finances (the price is fluctuating hourly) and might book. 

[claudiniusmaximus]

Ok that’s booked:)

 

quick question - I booked a twin by mistake but am assuming all twins can be made into doubles?

 

i tried to call p&o to tell them but can’t get through. And cruise personaliser won’t be active for 48 hours. We booked a guarantee so ever so slightly paranoid they’ll allocate before have time to change it. 

[P&O SUE]

6 hours ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Ok that’s booked:)

 

quick question - I booked a twin by mistake but am assuming all twins can be made into doubles?

 

i tried to call p&o to tell them but can’t get through. And cruise personaliser won’t be active for 48 hours. We booked a guarantee so ever so slightly paranoid they’ll allocate before have time to change it. 

 

Hi, don’t wish to worry you but Oceana has ‘fixed’ twins that can’t be moved in some cabins. We had one last February (was an inside cabin) but we knew that when we booked it and it was fine.

[Caravan 37]

On 11/20/2018 at 6:20 PM, claudiniusmaximus said:

Hi Folks

 

Toying with booking the above cruise as just feel like I need a cheeky cruise and haven’t got one booked until June. 

 

Ive never done a Xmas/NYE cruise (or been on holiday over that period). The only other “peak season” cruise I’ve ever been on was aurora during August and we found the numbers of children a bit overhelming. It was a 17 day cruise with 10 sea days and by half way through the cruise the kids and teens had I think got a bit bored and the “best behaviour” of the first week had waned. They’d taken over the adults pool, and had reached the point where kids tearing through the bars and lounges at high speed or drunk teenagers hanging around stairwells or staggering around deck...well didn’t ruin the cruise for us but did take the shine off a bit. 

 

Just wondering if a NYE cruise is going to “feel” busy (as no one will be on deck) and if it’s likely to have lots of kids or booze cruisers. 

 

I know, I know, I sound like a curmudgeon. Ok, I am a bit of a curmudgeon 😬

We’re about to do a NY cruise to the Caribbean on Azura and have had NY onboard MSC Divina in the Caribbean and MSC Splendida in the Med. We’ve found the celebrations to be fab on NYE and didn’t notice children at all although I’m sure the little blighters were there somewhere 🤣

[Presto2]

11 hours ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Ok that’s booked:)

 

quick question - I booked a twin by mistake but am assuming all twins can be made into doubles?

 

i tried to call p&o to tell them but can’t get through. And cruise personaliser won’t be active for 48 hours. We booked a guarantee so ever so slightly paranoid they’ll allocate before have time to change it. 

 

I'd get in touch with them ASAP to make sure that you get a double as I think that I have seen a post about some odd configurations for twin cabins.

[eddie11]

Here’s the deck plans, showing the cabins with fixed twins

https://www.pocruises.com/global/deckplans/oceana/oceana_deckplans_2018-19.pdf

 

The thing is though, I think all the insides on Oceana are basically incompatible with a queen bed arrangement.  They’ll do it for you, as long as the beds aren’t fixed, but the space doesn’t work ... the wardrobes, the bedside cabinets, the bed don’t seem to be able to be configured efficiently.  One side of the bed won’t have a cabinet; there is very, very little ‘move around space’.

 

Perhaps others will be able to reassure you that they have been OK in an inside with queen bed ?  We opt for twin automatically now.

 

Hope it works out for you.  Another factor to consider when booking guarantee

[claudiniusmaximus]

Phew! Ok I just got off the phone and they’ve changed it to a double. 

 

They probably wont allocate until a couple of days before we go so probably had loads of time to change it but you know how you can imagine the worst. 

 

Yes it’s an inside. And being a guarantee on what will no doubt be a very full cruise we’ll probably get one of the teeniest cabins. In the past we’ve done guarantee inside, chose our own ocean view cabin once and chose our own balcony four times. Next year we’ve chosen an oceanview obstructed for Alaska. So we are working our way through the different types lol. Haven’t managed a suite yet!

 

The one other time we did a guarantee inside it was absolutely tiny tucked into a corner on Arcadia. 

 

We decided this time that as its a short short cruise and a cheeky addition we weren’t planning, we’d just go for the cheapest cabin available. At worst we’ll only be in there 5 nights. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

[claudiniusmaximus]

Ps has anyone been to Hamburg on a cruise? 

 

All I can see is that we leave “evening” and I’m wondering what time that’s likely to be. This is on NYE. 

 

Also not sure whether to stay in Hamburg or whether to visit Lüneburg. Can’t work out if it’s a cool city to visit or if it’s a bit of a “well I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit Hamburg but seeing as you’re going you’ll find something of interest” if you know what I mean. 

 

Also wondering if p&o have a regular terminal there? Apparently some are closer to the city centre than others. 

 

And finally do p&o provide shuttles into town for Hamburg? I know we’ll have to pay on a saver fare. 

 

Thanks in advance if you can help. 

 

Cheers!

[marylizcat]

46 minutes ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Ps has anyone been to Hamburg on a cruise? 

 

All I can see is that we leave “evening” and I’m wondering what time that’s likely to be. This is on NYE. 

 

Also not sure whether to stay in Hamburg or whether to visit Lüneburg. Can’t work out if it’s a cool city to visit or if it’s a bit of a “well I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit Hamburg but seeing as you’re going you’ll find something of interest” if you know what I mean. 

 

Also wondering if p&o have a regular terminal there? Apparently some are closer to the city centre than others. 

 

And finally do p&o provide shuttles into town for Hamburg? I know we’ll have to pay on a saver fare. 

 

Thanks in advance if you can help. 

 

Cheers!

According to the port schedule here https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/vessels/cruise-saillinglist you will be at the Altona terminal. We have docked there twice, but with Fred. It is a shuttle bus trip into the city centre, a bit too far to walk. They have a great Christmas market, but that may be finished. The best place to go is Miniatur Wunderland, the biggest model railway in the world by far. Amazing even if you don’t like model railways! But if you are going independently you will need to book a time slot online ASAP as it fills up very fast, being so popular.

[claudiniusmaximus]

Thanks for that - a shuttle bus will be great 👍 

 

It looks like we sail away at 11.45pm so will hopefully see fireworks as we sail down the Elbe. That sounds awesome. 

 

Where did the shuttle drop you off?

Edited November 24, 2018 by claudiniusmaximus

[marylizcat]

Just now, claudiniusmaximus said:

Thanks for that - a shuttle bus will be great 👍 

 

Where did it drop you off?

In the city centre near the City Hall. Slightly different spot the second time when the Xmas Market was on, but both times very central.

[Presto2]

4 hours ago, claudiniusmaximus said:

Phew! Ok I just got off the phone and they’ve changed it to a double. 

 

They probably wont allocate until a couple of days before we go so probably had loads of time to change it but you know how you can imagine the worst. 

 

Yes it’s an inside. And being a guarantee on what will no doubt be a very full cruise we’ll probably get one of the teeniest cabins. In the past we’ve done guarantee inside, chose our own ocean view cabin once and chose our own balcony four times. Next year we’ve chosen an oceanview obstructed for Alaska. So we are working our way through the different types lol. Haven’t managed a suite yet!

 

The one other time we did a guarantee inside it was absolutely tiny tucked into a corner on Arcadia. 

 

We decided this time that as its a short short cruise and a cheeky addition we weren’t planning, we’d just go for the cheapest cabin available. At worst we’ll only be in there 5 nights. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

 

Glad you've sorted that one. I think you've done the right thing there to prevent disappointment. Its the great thing about CC - we've always had brilliant advice from people :-)

[Goosebear Mum]

We have spent the last 3 Christmas’s on Aurora. Ok not Oceana, but on none of the cruises have the children been an issue. In fact in 2015 when we booked our first cruise, I was concerned. However, It was half way through the cruise, when we’d seen only a handful of children, before we heard there were actually over 200 on board!  We asked each other where they were hiding!   P&O must keep them very well entertained.    Last year (2017) was similar, though we saw a few more. Both those cruises were to Scandinavia.  I imagine the families going to Scandinavia/ cold locations have different expectations and maybe expect to entertain their children more, than those seeking sun and pools. 

 

(2016 was a long cruise to/from the Caribbean but there were in fact more children than I expected (though still not many!)  We saw them at sailaways near pools, etc, but all were no problem. In fact they and their parents livened up the place 🙂 )

 

I doubt you’ll hear much from children. But on a shorter New Year Cruise, you ‘could’ have more adults drinking excessive alcohol.  But then again you may not!  

 

I imagine Christmas cruises to the Canaries, on large family ships, will be very different!

 

We’re back on Aurora this Christmas, I always hope we don’t get a cruise with a difference 😉 

 

 

Enjoy 🙂