The cruise for people who don't do cruises! (Ocean Village Crusies)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Ocean Village Crusies
Date:	16/01/09 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of entertainment and things to do, visits great places, 24/7 food

Disadvantages: can be pricey, only skims the surface of the places you visit

Ocean Village offers many different choices of cruises in the Caribbean and Mediterranean travelling to many different places. You can choose from 7 or 14 night cruises or a 14 night stay and cruise where you stay on land for one week and then cruise the next. Prices are reasonable for a cruise starting at roughly £480 for the Med or £700 for the Caribbean for 7 nights ranging up to over £2,000. Ocean Village do offer a lot of deals every so often though and these are always really good. We recently got a deal on 4 people for the price of 2 so that cut the cost in half for each one of us.

Whether you plan to hop off the boat at every place you stop for an adventurous holiday or stay on the boat for a relaxing holiday, either way you will not get bored. Ocean Village offers Action Ashore trips and activities which you can book in advance of the holiday or once you're on the boat. These range from activities such as biking, jeep driving through the mountains, swimming with the dolphins, scuba diving/snorkelling and river tubing, to trips such as 'The Best of ...', city visits, shopping sprees, historic monument visits, etc. On one of our trips in St Vincent we visited part of the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. Some of these trips can be quite pricey but you do get a lot included - i.e. transport to and from the ship, lunch and refreshments, guided tour, etc. Or if you don't fancy any of the trips you can simply get off the boat and have a walk around town yourself. Or, if you'd prefer to stay on board throughout the day the top deck has two swimming pools, two jacuzzis and plenty of sunbeds to relax on.

Entertainment on the boat is brilliant with a stage show every night in the Marquee and various other things going on in other bars around the boat, including comedians, dancing and singing shows and different types of acrobat shows. However, if you just want to stay in your room they show some great new films on TV.

If you like your food you will not be disappointed with 24/7 all inclusive catering. Waterfront - generally British food, open at set times throughout the day; Plantation - open 24/7 has a themed dinner each night such as Chinese, Mexican, etc., provides snacky foods and foods for kids; La Luna - mainly a pizza restaurant that offers certain pizzas at no cost and some other items on the menu are great value; The Bistro - a more formal dining restaurant that has charges for all of the meals.

We stayed in a suite which was quite a bit more expensive than a normal cabin but I would definitely recommend upgrading if you can afford it. We had 2 single beds, a sofa bed, coffee table, big TV, tea and coffee making facilities, bath and shower, walk in wardrobe, safe, and the best thing was the balcony. The cabins only have a small port hole window which doesn't open or some don't even have windows at all so the balcony was fab! We left the door open at night and could hear the waves just outside and it was great when we were coming into port as we could see all of the town. The smaller cabins usually have 2 single beds on either side of the room with 2 beds above those which pull out from the wall. The boat also has a small shop selling all the essential items you might need when out in the middle of the ocean, plus other clothes and perfume shops, etc., as well as an onboard doctor and dentist.

When you arrive at the boat your photo is taken and credit/debit card information is stored to your name and each passenger gets a swipe card. You use this card whenever you want to buy something on board and they simply swipe the card, your picture comes up to check it's you who's using it and you sign for it. At the end of the trip they deliver a statement to your room and the amount is automatically deducted so you don't need to worry about it at all and you don't need any money on board.

Our trip was on the Ocean Village Two boat but my mum and sister have also been on Ocean Village and said it was practically the same just bigger and newer.

If you're looking to go on a cruise I would definitely recommend Ocean Village but they're moving over to P&O Australia at the end of this year so you'd better be quick!

Summary: A great holiday whether you stay on the boat or get off