Stevedalton

On a RC cruise I was once on, formal evening attire by some American tourists in the main dining room consisted of a clean basketball vest and shorts.

Just came back from a 7 nighter on Oceana. We were charged £49 each for gratuities. I still gave our cabin steward a €40 tip because he was a hard working and very nice fella. Trouble is, where I knew (hoped) our auto tips were being shared throughout the whole ships staff, when the auto tips are removed and we can freely tip, how will all the backroom staff fare compared to those on the front line? We normally go freedom dining as we go to a few of the 'pay extra' restaurants so the only person we have regular contact with on a daily basis is our cabin steward. Doesn’t seem fair for the majority of staff in my opinion.

Just came across this thread as we are way out at sea, can only connect to the ships (P&O Oceana) network on our phones and just cost a fiver to receive a couple of texts. Anyway, my 'three’ Mifi is getting a strong signal. I can’t see how it’s going to cost me anything as it’s a pre paid PAYG data sim (£45 for 24Gb) which lasts for up to two years.

I also found this thread when searching for Atlas.

The Atlas was our first cruise but we actually used it as a cheap(er) form of transport! I was working in Cape Town as a motor mechanic in a VW/Audi/Porsche dealer in 1982 (had my girlfriend, now my wife with me) and when it was time to come home in 1983, a three week cruise on the Atlas was much cheaper than a one-way airfare back home. Admittedly, I think we were below the waterline in a broom cupboard with a door like what a submarine has and when first shown to our cabin, I asked where the bed was and the steward folded two single bunks out of the wall! At the time, gambling was illegal in South Africa so the Atlas picked up passengers, went out into international waters and cruised up and down the coast allowing passengers to gamble in the casino. It did this for a few months I believe. We joined boarded the ship in Durban on 6th January 1983 and it was on its homeward journey. We stopped in the Seychelles, went through the Suez Canal, stopped in Israel and finally finished up in Piraeus. Skint! We stayed in a cheap hotel for a couple of days and went round bucket shops looking for a cheap flight home with no luck. At our last shop, the owner asked us if we were students. I said no. He asked again. I said no again. He asked one more time, slowly and winked. I didn’t know what he meant but this time I said yes and he said “Great, I can sell you a couple of student tickets now”! Apparently Greek 'students' got flight tickets at about a quarter of the price of regular priced tickets. Anyway, we arrived home about 13 months after leaving. Poorer in monetary terms but richer for the experience.

Anyway, here a few pictures I’ve just dug out for those who remember it. Not exactly the height of luxury nowdays but we had fond memories all the same. One thing I’ve never seen on any other cruise I’ve been on, is the deck being hosed down every morning, very early, to clear it of all the soot and ash that came out of the chimney stack overnight! Those were the days. :')

pic upload

Thanks. Sounds just what we're looking for. We are going in August so hopefully the weather should be perfect. :D

We celebrated our Silver wedding anniversary in 2009 on the Oceana and we did a 2 week Western Med cruise from Southampton. Can’t wait to get back on it, especially as I read that it has had a recent refit. We’ve been on bigger ship since but for us, Oceana was the perfect size.

Thanks all. We’ve been to Venice years ago and did the Gondola ride, St Marks square (I seem to remember going up some large tower there) and paid a fair few Euros for a coffee and 'music' at Florians café (saw a Japanese father of 4 nearly turn the table over when they presented him with his bill for one drink each plus €5 p.p. times 6 for 'music'. That was fun!). The Doges palace secret itinerary tour looks good so I’ll check that out plus the old town in Valetta. We're arriving at 10.30am on the day if the cruise so by the time we get to the port I understand we can leave our cases there, go away and come back later to check-in/board. Is that right? (No time after the cruise as our flight leaves at 12.30 in the day we get back). Any idea what time the ship leaves - when I spoke to someone at P&O customer services they seemed to think we'd be okay until about 5pm or even later.

Out of interest how much is it to book seats on the Manchester to Barbados flights, there will be three of us and I don't fancy being at opposite ends of the plane to my Mrs, although I think that option probably appeals to some ;p.

I think you have to find out through your cruise personaliser.

One bit of advice I can offer you though. Don’t pay for extra legroom seats! We made that mistake when flying to the last cruise we went on, on the Azura from Barbados in 2011. Loads of legroom by the emergency exit. Unfortunately, every Barbadian/Bajan onboard knew every other Barbadian onboard and whole groups of them congregated in the spaces by the exits, right where we were, to jabber away all the way there and all the way back! Couldn’t even stretch our legs out without someone tripping over them. And they don’t sleep. And they liked a drink!

We're booked on a one-week Italy and Croatia cruise from Malta later this year. So far we’ve booked a couple of excursions - Cable car and Cavtat in Dubrovnik and San Marino and Ravenna in Ravenna. Looking for ideas from you seasoned travelers for things to do in Valletta (just have a few hours pre-cruise), Venice and Split. All ideas welcome! Thanks.

It only cost us £5 pp per seat with easyJet last week. The easyJet booking reference appeared on the cruise personaliser 14 days before the flight.

Thanks. Not flying until August so will have to wait until then to book the flights out.

My wife has to hold my hand on takeoff and it would look a bit silly doing that across the aisle so I’ve got no choice. Anyway, just booked. Seats 4A & 4B so at least we'll be at the front.

Yeah, I know £15 x 4 is small change compared to the total cost of the holiday. Just that I haven’t been on a fly cruise where flights are part of the package for a good few years now and we’ve never had to do that in the past. Oh well, it looks like the norm now so I’ll just pay up and forget about it. :)

Hi. We've booked a cruise from Malta in August. Flights out are with EasyJet and back with TUI. I see through the cruise personaliser that we can now reserve our seats for the return TUI flight (outwards flights with EasyJet must be booked direct with them). Personally I think that £15 per person one way is a bit of a rip off but when I started looking, I could not book our preferred option which is middle and aisle seat. I can book window and middle seat or adjoining aisle seats so it appears that seats are sold in blocks of two. Does this mean that if I don’t pay for reserved seats, we will get that option or will they miraculously find a couple of single seats at either end of the plane? I mean, we’ve paid enough for the cruise and it seems they are trying to bleed you for more or risk not sitting next to your partner on the way there and back unless you pay more. Do these airlines follow the same policy as some of the other budget airlines and have a policy of deliberately splitting parties up? What next, pay to stay in the same cabin? What do/are others going?

Thanks all. Finally got round to booking the cruise and went with the inclusive flights as the times suited us. Now I have another question regarding flights so I’ll ask that in a separate question.

Hi all

Only been on a few cruises in my life - Durban to Athens in 1982, Med cruise on Oceana 2006, Greek isles from Venice in 2010 and the Caribbean on Azura in 2011. Now we could be ready for another! We were thinking of one of the cruises on Oceana departing from Malta but is there a way of just booking the cruise and organising our own flights as we'd like to have a mini break in Malta either before or after the cruise. Thanks.