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We have no kids so we always avoid school holidays.
It was nice seeing Oceana at Newcastle but she looked slightly unloved with lots of rust stains running down the side of the ship from several windows.
Oceana is 20 years old now and I wonder if she will be sold rather than refurbished when Iona comes into service.
I certainly hope not. I booked Oceana end October. can you kindly give me a review of it. Thanks
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16 minutes ago, drsel said:
23 minutes ago, grapau27 said:
We have no kids so we always avoid school holidays.
It was nice seeing Oceana at Newcastle but she looked slightly unloved with lots of rust stains running down the side of the ship from several windows.
Oceana is 20 years old now and I wonder if she will be sold rather than refurbished when Iona comes into service.

I certainly hope not. I booked Oceana end October. can you kindly give me a review of it. Thanks

Hopefully you get to cruise at the end of October.

We last sailed on Oceana end of November 2018 in an aft Suite which was lovely.

If you scroll to the bottom of this page and click on cruise reviews and put in Oceana you will get a selection of recent reviews which would be much more helpful for you.

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Edited by grapau27
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16 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

but until the FCO travel advice changes we can't go abroad except for essential travel.

I would consider  a sea cruise after nearly 3 months of a stressful, miserable, mind - numbing  lockdown to be "essential  travel " if only for the sake of my sanity.😆

Avril 

 

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According to the Spectator, new Covid-19 analysis from the University of Cambridge finds the R number has risen throughout England due to ‘increasing mobility’ and ‘mixing households’. It is estimated to be around 1 in the North West and South West, and below one in all other regions of England.

 

Given that the North West and South West are major tourist areas, is this another outcome of the Cummings effect?  And if the R figure really is above 1 there, are we heading for local area lockdowns?

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29 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

According to the Spectator, new Covid-19 analysis from the University of Cambridge finds the R number has risen throughout England due to ‘increasing mobility’ and ‘mixing households’. It is estimated to be around 1 in the North West and South West, and below one in all other regions of England.

 

Given that the North West and South West are major tourist areas, is this another outcome of the Cummings effect?  And if the R figure really is above 1 there, are we heading for local area lockdowns?

Although Harry,  the lack of empirical data,  means that the accuracy of the R number is significantly less than the accuracy of the long range weather forecast. 

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8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Although Harry,  the lack of empirical data,  means that the accuracy of the R number is significantly less than the accuracy of the long range weather forecast. 

I'd agree with you, wowzz, but the government seems to be setting great store by its being well below 1, and when you see an authoritative source producing research suggesting it's already above 1 it suggests problems ahead.

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3 hours ago, drsel said:
3 hours ago, grapau27 said:
We have no kids so we always avoid school holidays.
It was nice seeing Oceana at Newcastle but she looked slightly unloved with lots of rust stains running down the side of the ship from several windows.
Oceana is 20 years old now and I wonder if she will be sold rather than refurbished when Iona comes into service.

I certainly hope not. I booked Oceana end October. can you kindly give me a review of it. Thanks

Oceana is overdue a make over. We were on her end of February and she is definitely looking shabby.  We have been on her several times but will not be going on her again because we had a very poor experience on her this time.

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19 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Oceana is overdue a make over. We were on her end of February and she is definitely looking shabby.  We have been on her several times but will not be going on her again because we had a very poor experience on her this time.

Sorry to hear this.

We were last on Oceana November/December 2018 and she looked a little shabby then.

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Oceana is overdue a make over. We were on her end of February and she is definitely looking shabby.  We have been on her several times but will not be going on her again because we had a very poor experience on her this time.
How sad, what was the poor experience ?
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On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2020 at 9:09 PM, grapau27 said:

It was raining this morning but cleared by lunchtime so we took a picnic and drove to North Shields to see Oceana.

IMG-20200603-WA0001.jpg

 

Its been a long week here (hence me bring pretty quiet) and this just about finished me off. Thank you and please blow a kiss to her for us. Cancelled our Aug cruise in a cabin the other side B227 but we can see our loved A318 from here . This made us sad tonight for the whole line and cruise industry ---- and travel industry. Must be a nightmare. Now we just want to be back on her again and we will never ever complain about the lack of sunbeds, the small cabins, the horrible shower curtains, etc again !!!!!

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3 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

I'd agree with you, wowzz, but the government seems to be setting great store by its being well below 1, and when you see an authoritative source producing research suggesting it's already above 1 it suggests problems ahead.

Strange you considering the Spectator as an authorative source Harry!😉

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38 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Strange you considering the Spectator as an authorative source Harry!😉

Not the Spectator itself - they were referencing the actual report from Cambridge University.

 

I do like to read a wide range of opinion!  Not just the Guardian, you know.....  😉

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1 minute ago, Harry Peterson said:

Not the Spectator itself - they were referencing the actual report from Cambridge University.

 

I do like to read a wide range of opinion!  Not just the Guardian, you know.....  😉

Cambridge Uni, that hotbed of communist thinking, a strange partner for the Spectator.

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Had some good news for a change. Hubby’s job is save till January when they will reassess. No job losses at his building. Took a 21.8% pay cut but that will be fine. 
he’s furloughed for the next 6 weeks so gonna drive me and kids crazy. But it’s all good. 
 

It’s been raining last few days so no bike rides but we did go to some crags and was interesting with Woolley rhinos found there. 
 

Feels like a long time for holiday countdown now. 
 

my 88 year old gran wants to see us but not sure about it. 

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6 hours ago, drsel said:

I know that sir.
I was interested in your review, because you are an experienced, senior cruiser

Thank you.

We had an aft facing Suite D750 with an excellent butler.

I have written several cruise reviews but this was only a 2 nighter to Zeebrugge so not a lot to review I'm afraid.

It was November 30th 2018 when we boarded and the ship was decorated for Xmas.

The only speciality restaurant was Cafe Jardin which we went in both nights and we had lovely food and service.

It is open for lunch but is a fee paying restaurant at night.

The central atrium is the hub of the ship with a good selection of shops.

Magnums bar was very popular.

There was a good selection of night time entertainment.

Graham.

 

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Edited by grapau27
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4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Oceana is overdue a make over. We were on her end of February and she is definitely looking shabby.  We have been on her several times but will not be going on her again because we had a very poor experience on her this time.

We were on Oceana at the beginning of February,  and had a great time. No complaints at all, apart from the small bathrooms. The last couple of days were interesting, with force 10 gales, and having to pick up  a pilot from Brixham- looking out from our balcony seeing  this little pilot boat appear out of the gloom and waves was an experience in itself. Got tossed off one night in bed (sic).

Rather than beating yourself up about reviews, just go for it. My wife and I managed perfectly well travelling around the world in the 80s and 90s without the internet and hundreds of reviews.  Spending 14 days in a half decent cruise ship is not going to ruin your life if it is not to your liking. 

 

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10 hours ago, wowzz said:

We were on Oceana at the beginning of February,  and had a great time. No complaints at all, apart from the small bathrooms. The last couple of days were interesting, with force 10 gales, and having to pick up  a pilot from Brixham- looking out from our balcony seeing  this little pilot boat appear out of the gloom and waves was an experience in itself. Got tossed off one night in bed (sic).

Rather than beating yourself up about reviews, just go for it. My wife and I managed perfectly well travelling around the world in the 80s and 90s without the internet and hundreds of reviews.  Spending 14 days in a half decent cruise ship is not going to ruin your life if it is not to your liking. 

 

As I have said before, Oceana is far from my favourite ship but we still had a fantastic time on her in November. 

There are quite a few niggly things that bothered me, but Michelle loved her. 

It wasn't the condition that was the issue for me, it is just the general layout only seems to suit sunshine cruises and the cabins are tiny. 

I can't imagine how social distancing of any kind could work as everything seems crammed into one main, fairly small area. 

She hasn't got the quaintness and class of Aurora, but that could have just been the cruise director trying to cram too much into a small space. 

Don't be put off by me though, many love her, so go for it before Heinz get their hands on her😊

Andy 

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11 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

Had some good news for a change. Hubby’s job is save till January when they will reassess. No job losses at his building. Took a 21.8% pay cut but that will be fine. 
he’s furloughed for the next 6 weeks so gonna drive me and kids crazy. But it’s all good. 
 

It’s been raining last few days so no bike rides but we did go to some crags and was interesting with Woolley rhinos found there. 
 

Feels like a long time for holiday countdown now. 
 

my 88 year old gran wants to see us but not sure about it. 

Good news that your husband's job is safe until January.

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Oceana is one of our favourite P&O ships, been on her seven times now.  Yes the balcony cabins are small but if you can manage one of the aft mini suites or, even better, one of the 6 aft full suites, they are amazing.  Just to clarify the aft minis are very different from the mid-ship minis.  The mid-ship ones are two balcony cabins set together so the balcony is very long but very narrow.  The aft mini suites are very large with very deep balconies - we've had ten people out there with no problems.  The full suites' balconies are even larger.  We love Cafe Jardin, particularly for breakfast if we are not in a suite. The suites do have two separate rooms, separated by a curtain.  I think that the suites on Azura and Ventura for example are half the size of the Oceana ones.   Those people in suites now have a special section of one of the restaurants coned off for them for breakfast or, of course, the Butler will bring anything from the full restaurant menu and serve it in the suite - wonderful on the balcony when somewhere hot.

Just to mention, the Butler - we've never found them anything but extremely helpful and wanting to help make your cruise a lovely experience.  They are full of good information, not only about the ship, but also about the different ports.  Yes Oceana is getting on a bit compared to the huge giants P&O are now building.  Our favourite ships are now Oceana, Aurora and Arcadia.  When these eventually go I don't know what we shall do.  This is all supposing that cruises return in the the not too distant future.

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2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

As I have said before, Oceana is far from my favourite ship but we still had a fantastic time on her in November. 

There are quite a few niggly things that bothered me, but Michelle loved her. 

It wasn't the condition that was the issue for me, it is just the general layout only seems to suit sunshine cruises and the cabins are tiny. 

I can't imagine how social distancing of any kind could work as everything seems crammed into one main, fairly small area. 

She hasn't got the quaintness and class of Aurora, but that could have just been the cruise director trying to cram too much into a small space. 

Don't be put off by me though, many love her, so go for it before Heinz get their hands on her😊

Andy 

The last thing you want in such tiny cabins is to get "tossed off one  night in bed".

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2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

 Don't be put off by me though, many love her, so go for it before Heinz get their hands on her😊

Andy 

 

I just knew it ! :classic_angry: How did I guess ? :classic_huh:  Knew you'd have to say something and here's me thinking that you were being ever so kind liking my last post and then read this.:classic_tongue:

Whatever happens to her in the future Heinz will forever be her nickname for us (we'll have to find a cabin with a 57 in it) and we'll think of you Andy if we ever board again !!!!!!! :classic_wink:

Edited by Presto2
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