Oceana Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Unforgettable July cruise to the Fjords on Oceana!

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Oceana
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The Kraken
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2014

My wife and I cruised on the Oceana to the Mediterranean just before Christmas 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed this ship. Deciding to cruise again on Oceana, we opted for the Fjords and visited Stavanger, Flamm, Eidfjord and Kristiansand from July 5th – 12th 2014. As we have come to expect, the embarkation process at Southampton was easy and without incident. On-board, we found the ship to be very clean and well ordered. Our cabin was an outside, ‘obstructed view’ on D deck. Although we knew that the view from the window would be obstructed to a certain extent, we were not prepared for the whole of the window to be blocked by a lifeboat. This was very disappointing and in all honesty, not worth paying quite a significant premium for. We later found out that cabins like the one we had are to be designated as ‘inside cabins’ from next March. Just as well really as surely P&O cannot justify continuing to charge extra for essentially nothing.

We dined in the Adriatic restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the experience as the menus were varied and the quality of the food presented was in our opinion, faultless. Initially, we were allocated freedom dining in the Ligurian restaurant, but after a couple of nights we were lucky enough to be offered a table for fixed dining (2030 Hrs.) in the alternative Adriatic. We really did not like freedom as in the main, this was because our party of five had to wait until a table became ready and the delay meant that our available dining time was reduced if we wanted to catch one of the 2230 Hr. shows. Speaking of which, the entertainment was generally of a high standard – however, the wide age range of groups on-board ensured that the entertainment had to necessarily be broad ranging and as a consequence, we often found ourselves struggling to find something suitable. Not P&O’s fault of course although it should be said that there were certain shows / acts that P&O obviously have a long term contract with and so appear frequently across their ships. For example, a comedian, Fogwell Flax was on again – that is the third time we have cruised and he has appeared! We wouldn’t care, but his humour is so 1970’s, we should have worn flares!

The Headliners Theatre Company were as always, very good. However, we were disappointed when their show in Footlight theatre on the last night was cancelled - which reminded us of the last night on this very same ship seven months previous when their last show was cancelled as well. I admit to thinking that there was something going on here…

Cabin Review

Cabin fine. Enough storage space and clean. Bathroom as small as you would expect. However, the shower was slightly larger than in other cabins we have occupied. As the lifeboat practically obscured the whole of the view, it was not worth paying extra for this room. It would have been more cost effective to buy an inside cabin and save the money.

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