Oceana - Needs Some TLC

[Britboys]

It will be interesting to see how Azura fares doing the fly-cruises taking, as she does, an extra one-third more pax.  P&O's fly-cruises took quite a while to build up and I would have thought that the Arabian Gulf cruises have a relatively limited appeal unless you want to stay on board most of the time.  Many other cruise lines have cut back on the number of cruises in that region.

[AndyMichelle]

6 minutes ago, glittergal1 said:

Oh dear Oceana is a special cruise for us not only is it my Birthday but we are Renewing our wedding vows also  so I hope its not too dilapidated , I had that on Thomson Majesty  now that was a bad  Bad experience 

Don't expect perfection, but we still found her good enough for a great cruise, the crew and fellow passengers were outstanding and that can make or break a holiday for us. 

She is still a beautiful looking ship. 

Congratulations and have a fantastic time, 

Andy 

[Britboys]

3 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Glad I didn't now after seeing the state of it... Our dinner companions did, they were braver than us. 

Andy 

True - I wouldn't have wanted to be in that particular spa bath.  It can be lovely being in hot water in cold weather though.  We once went to a fabulous natural spa in Budapest in December.  It was snowing but the huge outdoor pools were wonderful 😃

[AndyMichelle]

Just now, Britboys said:

True - I wouldn't have wanted to be in that particular spa bath.  It can be lovely being in hot water in cold weather though.  We once went to a fabulous natural spa in Budapest in December.  It was snowing but the huge outdoor pools were wonderful 😃

I like the idea of it, but trying to get me to strip off in freezing weather.. No thank you... 

Andy 

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, glittergal1 said:

Oh dear Oceana is a special cruise for us not only is it my Birthday but we are Renewing our wedding vows also  so I hope its not too dilapidated , I had that on Thomson Majesty  now that was a bad  Bad experience 

Oceana has always been and still is my favourite P&O ship, although I had not sailed on her for several years until a fly cruise last October. She never seemed to be going where I wanted to go when I wanted to go there. I was pleasantly surprised how well the old girl had held up. I had no problems with my cabin apart from one drawer which was difficult to close, and the public areas were fine. So cheer up, you will have a great time.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Denarius
spellinh

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Oceana has always been and still is my favourite P&O ship, although I had not sailed on her for several years until a fly cruise last October. She never seemed to be going where I wanted to go when I wanted to go there. I was pleasantly surprised how well the old girl had held up. I had no problems with my cabin apart from one drawer which was difficult to close, and the public areas were fine. So cheer up, you will have a great time.

 

Couldn't have put it better ------------ we love Oceana and will be very sad when they sell her off. She is a beautiful 'older' lady and if you don't want to go on a cruise of all of the 'bells and whistles' that you get on the new ships then you will have a wonderful time. The friendliest crew in the fleet. You will have a wonderful time.

 

Last August we sailed on Celebrity's new 'flag ship' EDGE and she was a beauty ---- this year (God willing re the present situation) we will be on Oceana. Are we concerned about the obvious difference in the 2 ships? Not one bit. Oceana is older, but very beautiful in her own way. :-)

Edited February 25, 2020 by Presto2

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

So presumably Mardi Gras is going to be limited to 5 and 7 day sailings out of Florida then, if your data is accurate.

Iona is going to be doing 14 night cruises out of Southampton to Canaries and the Med, so is obviously going to have to be refiuelled in Tenerife and probably Barcelona, which already exist for Aidanova and Costa Smerelda.

So you do agree then that Iona will not just be re-fuelling in Southampton, as per your post 18 comment.

[molecrochip]

Iona will only refuel LNG in Southampton for her Norwegian season.

 

Iona needs to refuel LNG every 7 days, therefore she will also refuel LNG in either Tenerife or Barcelona, as well as Southampton, during her Winter season of up to 14 night cruises.

[RJChatsworth]

On 2/24/2020 at 5:27 PM, RJChatsworth said:

Earlier this month we spent two weeks on Oceana, sailing down to the Med.  We had a nice time, the food in the Adriatic Restaurant was good and so was the entertainment.  The ports visited were also good and so was the weather until we hit storm 'Dennis' on the way back to Southampton.  However, this ship is tired.  I read on other threads comments about it being old.  Well, it's not really, only just 20 years so could be good if it had been looked after - perhaps it's the next on the P&O fleet to be sold.  At the loyalty lunch, the officer on our table didn't know whether it would soon be sold, but he did say that refurbishment had been delayed in favour of a Cunard ship.  Can that really be true I wonder?

 

We had a mini-suite and its state was pretty appalling, mostly due to ingrained deterioration and I did wonder whether the 'Head of Hotels' staff where falling down in their roles.  When we first got in the cabin we noticed a dirty pool towel on the balcony and the gel bottle in the walk-in-shower was filthy and the cabin steward replaced them immediately.

 

But that wasn't the main problem.  The washbasin had two large cracks in it, both emanating at the plughole to the extremities of the basin.  They looked as if they had been painted over, but the paint had come off and the large cracks were dirty.  The walk-in-shower had much mould ingrained into the tile cement as well as being on the tiles and floor.  The curtains by the patio door where filthy.  There were coffee stains running down the outside of one of the easy chairs.  After a few days I noticed that the large picture above the sofa had congealed food on it which turned out to be synthetic cream.  It appeared that someone had been flicking the cream on to the picture.  I cleaned it.  The tray mat was badly stained so we kept turning the cups over.

 

You would be right to ask whether we complained to Reception at the time.  We didn't because when we had mentioned the two things (pool towel and shower gel container) to the cabin steward on the first day he had gone out of his way since to be helpful.  He would knock at the door and run up the corridor whenever he saw us to check whether everything was ok.  It was as if he was nervous and wishing to please on the one hand to being bullied (maybe over his job) at the other end of the scale.  I didn't want the cabin steward to be made the scapegoat when many of the failings were at a more senior level.

 

Since arriving home I have emailed Customer Support in Southampton, but so far I haven't even received an acknowledgement that they received my email.

 

Whilst writing, three other observations about the cabin:

1.  Why can't you get into the cabin until about 2 pm on the first day?  There were many passengers with large amounts of carry-on luggage and the Plaza was crammed.  On Cunard you can get straight in your cabin when you board after 12 noon.  You have to leave your cabin at the same time on disembarkation day on both P&O and Cunard so I'm not sure what the excuse is for the delay on P&O.

2.  In the mini-suite we had a fruit bowl, but some fruit needed peeling.  There was no plate, knife or serviette.  What's the point of that?  More cuts?

3.  What's the point of placing a pen in the cabin but then not giving you any paper to write on.  It just smacks of penny pinching.

 

[RJChatsworth]

Just now, RJChatsworth said:

 

There was a good reply to this when I mailed P&O.  They offered us £400 off our next booking which we were able to transfer to Cunard - well pleased.

[Josy1953]

Pleased that you got a good resolution.

 

We got back from Oceana on Sunday and I will never travel on her again.  I have written to Paul Ludlow about our appalling experience when we boarded and I have also sent him the photograph of the bathroom bin complete with the dirty baby's nappy in it.

 

My complaint has been passed to guest relations to be investigated but given the attitude "It is only a small mistake by one person" on board I don't hold out much hope of getting an apology after the 28 days that they have said it will take to investigate despite having the photograph.

 

We were given a bottle of house wine as a gesture of goodwill on board.

Edited March 11, 2020 by Josy1953

[NoFlyGuy]

22 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Pleased that you got a good resolution.

 

We got back from Oceana on Sunday and I will never travel on her again.  I have written to Paul Ludlow about our appalling experience when we boarded and I have also sent him the photograph of the bathroom bin complete with the dirty baby's nappy in it.

 

My complaint has been passed to guest relations to be investigated but given the attitude "It is only a small mistake by one person" on board I don't hold out much hope of getting an apology after the 28 days that they have said it will take to investigate despite having the photograph.

 

We were given a bottle of house wine as a gesture of goodwill on board.

 

We also got back on Oceana on Sunday and I have to say she's not my favourite ship.

No major gripes but just little things.

 

The bathroom in our balcony cabin was tiny - I'm 5'11 and weigh only 62 kilos but it was a squash.

Couldn't seem to get a waiter to come over on the welcome onboard lunch for the 6 of us on our table. Had half a glass of wine each and then gave up and left.

 

Also our corridor on deck 10 smelt of food almost all of the time.

 

Still enjoyed the cruise  though.

 

[Adawn47]

I'm so sorry you've had a bad experience on Oceana. We last cruised on her 2015 for our Golden Wedding Anniversary. She was really lovely then and we've cruised on her 4 times in total. It's sad to hear she's been neglected over the years. I'm surprised she's not had a refit yet. It's definitely overdue. 

Avril 

[Josy1953]

29 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

 

We also got back on Oceana on Sunday and I have to say she's not my favourite ship.

No major gripes but just little things.

 

The bathroom in our balcony cabin was tiny - I'm 5'11 and weigh only 62 kilos but it was a squash.

Couldn't seem to get a waiter to come over on the welcome onboard lunch for the 6 of us on our table. Had half a glass of wine each and then gave up and left.

 

Also our corridor on deck 10 smelt of food almost all of the time.

 

Still enjoyed the cruise  though.

 

I know what you mean about the bathroom size, I am  5ft 2in size 12 and found myself wondering how some of the larger passengers managed to fit in the bathroom.

 

 We were on deck 9 and decided that they prepared onions every morning because every day when we left the cabin on the way to breakfast we could commented on the smell of onions.

[NoFlyGuy]

18 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I know what you mean about the bathroom size, I am  5ft 2in size 12 and found myself wondering how some of the larger passengers managed to fit in the bathroom.

 

 We were on deck 9 and decided that they prepared onions every morning because every day when we left the cabin on the way to breakfast we could commented on the smell of onions.

 

Too true! We often wondered how the more rotund passengers were coping with the bathrooms in the standard cabins.

 

Quite often I heard expletives from the bathroom when wifey was getting ready - She's 5ft 3in and weighs 52 kilos (not sure what size that is ). Got additional ear ache by the second week because nothing she brought on board fitted apparently - hey ho, I usually switch off then.

 

She thinks I need a hearing aid. I call it selective hearing loss!

 

Will still book an Oceana cruise in the future if the price/destinations appeal though.

[wowzz]

We weren't too impressed by the layout of the ship, but had no issues with cleanliness,  quality of the furnishings etc.

However,  I would agree about the shower cubicle (and indeed the space around the loo).  Looking at the size of many of the people on board,  we dreaded to think how they coped (or indeed couldn't cope) with the basic bathroom functions.

[AndyMichelle]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

We weren't too impressed by the layout of the ship, but had no issues with cleanliness,  quality of the furnishings etc.

However,  I would agree about the shower cubicle (and indeed the space around the loo).  Looking at the size of many of the people on board,  we dreaded to think how they coped (or indeed couldn't cope) with the basic bathroom functions.

That's our feelings Wowzz. 

We enjoyed it, but just didn't like the layout. 

We missed a Crows Nest type venue. 

Andy 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

That's our feelings Wowzz. 

We enjoyed it, but just didn't like the layout. 

We missed a Crows Nest type venue. 

Andy 

Seems a bit academic at the moment, but thanks for your support. We missed somewhere to go lateish on,  which is where the Crows Nest comes into play.