Does anyone have the kids club dailies for Bliss? 

Also, if we want to watch sail in to a port, is the indicated docking time pretty accurate (i.e. we need to be on deck around 7 - 7.30 for an 8am docking time), or does the ship actually arrive much earlier than noted? I don't want to get up at the crack of dawn to watch sail in only to find we're already docked at 5.30am.

Should I buy cigarettes at the airport? How much are they on OV2 and do they sell menthol cigarettes? Also, how much are ciggies on the islands and are they international brands? Thanks.

Ocean Village 2 - Coral & Coconuts - Parrots & Palm Trees

Southern Caribbean (Nov 08 - Mar 09)

Arrive Barbados

At Sea

St Vincent

Dominica

Mayreau

Isla Margarita

Curacao

Aruba (Fly home from here if on 7 night cruise)

At Sea

Bonaire

Caracas

Grenada

St Lucia

Tobago

Barbados

Ocean Village 1 is doing the more usual Central Caribbean

Treetops & Turtles - Mangoes & Monkeys

Barbados

At Sea

Tortola

St Barts

Antigua

Martinique

Grenada

Barbados

At Sea

St Kitts

St Maarten

Guadeloupe

St Lucia

Dominica

Barbados

So a few new exciting destinations for both ships.

There is also a new DVD out which shows the Ocean Village 2 on one of its Mediterranean weeks this summer.

I am going on the OV 2 in February and looking at its fabulous Winter 2008/9 itinerary will be booking for that cruise to!

May be just that they don’t want anyone else to use it, but I understood that you cant register a trade mark that you don’t intend on using just to prevent others from doing so…

Anyway, might be nothing but I thought I’d share J

Here at Cruise Critic we wanted to create a montage of your best, and even quirkiest, memories of Ocean Village and Ocean Village Two (which is already sailing down under).

So we have created an Ocean Village memory book page for you to share your thoughts: http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=1178

We will constantly be adding new memories to the page and there's also a chance for you to win a Cruise Critic and Ocean Village goodie bag each week!

Each Friday, for the next five weeks, we'll pick our favourite memory and that person will win a prize! Please e-mail your memories and pics to ovmemories@cruisecritic.co.uk.

Does anyone know if Ocean Village is returning to the UK as I have heard rumours it might be comming home.

I will always remember what great staff and food were served in the Bistro on OV1 The best restaurant, with the best food at sea. We ate in there every night on our last 14 night cruise and the staff were exceptional (with the exception of the photographer, who I wanted to punch, but that's another story)

The staff on the final night through us a farewell party, just to say thank you for eating there, balloons, streamers, the works...... good times!:)

"Four days into our cruise, seven members of the group went on a hike in the rain forest that they booked with Mandoo of Grenada. The hike was supposed to be 4 hours in length with a comfortable cushion to get back to the boat before departure that evening. My sister, my cousin and I remained on the ship. They never made it back onto the ship that night. Instead, Mandoo’s guide got lost in the rainforest and they spent five harrowing hours hiking in the dark through dense brush with only light from a cell phone and a bic lighter to navigate.. In two separate incidences, my aunt and my cousin almost fell off of cliffs while my brother and son pulled them up to safety. Mandoo’s guide did not have any survival equipment or training. They were led out of the rainforest by a barefoot fisherman with a flashlight who found them. At that point, this barefoot stranger advised them that it would take two more hours of hiking in the dark to get to where they needed to go. He was like an angel from heaven. Finally, after hours of fording streams, sliding down through mud and being cut up by the razor grass, they met up with the search party sent by Mandoo to find them. When they encountered the searchers, the guide had angry words with the searchers and attempted to send them away. My brother described this as a very tense moment when they didn’t know who were the good guys.

Because this excursion was not booked through Princess, the ship left port without my brother and his girlfriend, my aunt, a cousin and her daughter, and my two college-age children. Princess and its personnel could not have been kinder, more professional or compassionate. They were wonderful. The ship waited two hours for them because Mandoo had advised the port agent that the driver who was picking them up from the trailhead was “caught in traffic.” You cannot imagine the anguish of leaving Grenada without your kids – it was easily one of the worst nights of my life. I became so distraught, they brought me to the infirmary. But, I had no idea what was really going on – I had no idea that they were not safe, that in fact, they were lost in the rainforest.

The ship departed port around 8:30. At that point, I believed that they were caught in traffic, but at 9:30 that night, I finally was able to get in touch with Mandoo who said: “They are lost in the rainforest. That is all I know,” before the connection went dead. To say I nearly lost my mind is an understatement. My sister had the presence of mind to telephone her husband in Virginia to ask him to call the Grenadian Police and the US State Department. At approximately 11:00, we got a call from him saying that they were safe in the presence of the Port Agent, Gary. Gary went above and beyond – he was absolutely wonderful. He went out to the trailhead to meet them and make sure they were safe. He offered to house them in his own home. He arranged to have my cousin go to the US Embassy to get her daughter a passport. Mandoo arranged for them to stay at a local hotel. At 11:30, I was able to talk to my children and know that they were alive. Can you imagine this? Going on a cruise that is supposed to be fun – a time for our family to be together, laughing and enjoying our time together. Instead, they entrust their safety to Mandoo and his guide’s actions put their lives in danger. INCREDIBLE.

They arrived at the hotel covered from head to toe in mud with cuts up and down their arms and legs from the razor grass. The pictures of their limbs look like someone took a razor and slashed them hundreds of times. The next day, Mandoo’s guide visited them at their hotel. He showed up while they were having dinner to convince them that “it wasn’t his fault.” He insisted that it was Mandoo’s fault, that he had told Mandoo that the trail wasn’t in good shape and that Mandoo was more interested in the money. Mandoo would have made approximately $420 that day.

The next day, my sister, cousin and I spent the day in our cabin

working on getting them either back to the ship or home. We were able to get a LIAT flight for my son and aunt to fly the following day from Grenada to Tortola (with stops in St. Vincent, Antigua, and St. Martin!) and then take the ferry over to St. Thomas to meet the boat. My cousin, having nearly fallen off a cliff and who was the most cut up, chose to take her daughter home. The rest of the group took a flight from Grenada to Miami and then to San Juan where we met up with them on Puerto Rico at the conclusion of our cruise. These arrangements cost approximately $5,000!

BOOK YOUR EXCURSIONS THROUGH THE SHIP. He insisted that it was our family’s fault that his guide got lost in the rainforest. He did not offer to pay their hotel bill on Grenada nor has he reimbursed us for our expenses to get them off Grenada. While driving them to the airport for their flights, he told them that he wouldn’t charge them for the ride...a ridiculous thing to say for what had happened."

Eeek! :eek:

.

I have scanned one of the photographs and hopefully it is attached to this post.

.

Hopefully, the owners can be found. If owners are found, then I will gladly arrange to post them their lost memories.

.

Our weekend home page poll (http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk -- then scroll all the way down) addresses this -- hope you'll come on over to the home page and vote. And discuss your choices here, too.

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic