Ocean Princess

[snoozecruise]

Have booked Ocean Princess for November this year. I understand this experience(a smaller ship) will be different to our previous cruises. However there is very little info or discussion on these boards . Would like to hear any advice or experience you may have.Also has anyone had a table for two on this ship ? Thanks in advance.........:)

[slotto]

There is not really a huge difference in a small vs. bigger ship in my opinion. We were on the Ocean Princess last September on a 14 day cruise and it was the best cruise we have ever done. There is a more intimate feel and the showroom, casino and public spaces are not as big as on a larger ship, but the service is excellent and the food and atmosphere were wonderful. Did not have one complaint and loved everything about it.

[Aussie Gal]

Have booked Ocean Princess for November this year. I understand this experience(a smaller ship) will be different to our previous cruises. However there is very little info or discussion on these boards . Would like to hear any advice or experience you may have.Also has anyone had a table for two on this ship ? Thanks in advance.........:)

 

We love the Ocean Princess and we have had 4 cruises on her (3 when she was the Tahitian), one on the Pacific Princess, one on the Royal, one on Oceania's Nautica and one on Azamara's Quest. They were all built by Renaissance Cruise line who went into insolvency and they were split up to the various cruise lines. They are all very similar.

 

You will love the dining room, it is a beautiful room at the aft end of the ship on Deck 5. There are lots of tables for 2, though they are all close to either tables of 4 or 6 so you can also chat to the table next to you if you want.

 

The library is a lovely room, and we always enjoy having a drink up in the Tahitian Lounge on Deck 10.

 

If you have booked a mini suite or a suite you will find there is loads of room. The balcony cabins are a bit tighter though there is a nice settee in the cabin near to the balcony door.

 

We cruised on the Ocean Princess last year for 31 days and loved every minute of it. We also were on the Royal in April/May for 26 days and on Oceania's Nautica for 35 days, so as you can gather we found plenty to do especially as we had 11 and a half sea days in a row on the Royal earlier this year.

 

We are booked on the Ocean for next March for a further 20 days. I hope I have answered some of your questions.

 

Jennie

[sunsetbeachgal]

Ditto above...we loved the Ocean Princess. I seem to remember some tables for two in the dining room, BUT they only do traditional seating in the dining room, not Anytime Dining, which was a big change for us. The nicest difference for us was that the buffet was much more civilized than the buffets on the larger ships. Tables were always available, food display and selection seemed better, etc and civilized is the only word I can come up with to describe it. We avoid buffets on the larger ships-just can't take the crowds! But I did miss the International Cafe!

 

Entertainment is not as good as the larger ships, but there was enough for us. And there were lovely public spaces-you simply won't believe the library.

 

And by the end of our 14 day cruise, the staff feels more like family! :)

[snoozecruise]

Thanks for the replies....am now looking forward to our cruise even more.

 

Jennie we are doing the reverse to you 20 days Singapore to Sydney.

[paul929207]

Because it is a smaller ship, you get to know the other passengers and the crew.

[robsaw]

We're booked for a March 2013 South Pacific cruise on Ocean. Have done quite a bit of research, and looks like Ocean Princess will be a great, but somewhat different experience than on our previous cruises on Ruby, Emerald and Crown (all essentially identical ships).

 

One thing to note, is that the Ocean has substantially more space per passenger than the bigger Princess ships. So, while the ship is smaller, it seems it can have a less crowded feel.

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks for the replies....am now looking forward to our cruise even more.

 

Jennie we are doing the reverse to you 20 days Singapore to Sydney.

 

 

What a pity you aren't on our cruise! So far we have a very small roll call. I am sure you will love being on her as much as we do.

 

Jennie

[cathi]

I love the small ships and was sad to see the Royal go over to P&O. May just have to see what they have done with her.

As everyone has said the dining room is only traditional 2 seating dinners but the buffet is great. At dinner on sea days it turns into a bistro with table service and a menu. Then on shore days it is a buffet with lots of choices for such a small space. And the back deck is wonderful in the warm weather.

You do get to meet most of the other passengers since there are only a few hundred - O.K. 700 but that's miniscule when compared with most of the other Princess ships.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Griller]

Just been on Ocean P. for 18 days and I would go back on her in a heartbeat.

Plenty of public room except when there was an art auction, friendly and efficient crew, clean ship, good food, and we had very nice group of passengers and about 5 kids.

Great itineraries as well, I love these smaller ships.

One negative point would be small theatre stage space which leads to cut down versions of production shows, and the CD staff in charge of trivia and some other activities are often the dancers and not all of them are very good or enthusiastic at it.

Another thing which wasn't good for us was that there is no late night buffet, it often closed at 5.30pm, and if you sit up late in a lounge playing cards you cannnot get anything even a sandwich as room service will not deliver to anywhere except a cabin.

The Elite lounge was not heavily used, and was also not that good, don't know which lead to which, has been better on other ships, they use a closed specialty restaurant for it and you just sit at round dining tables.Not a dealbreaker for us, specially since the quality of the drinks went down and the price went up 30% since our last cruise at Christmas.

[caribill]

You can see some pictures of the Ocean Princess (when it was the Tahitian Princess) at http://fp.caribill.com/ Looks just as good after the conversion.

 

If you click on the "Food", the first two pictures show the dining room.

 

If the first picture, the two tables under the two pictures on the upper left are tables for two. These are not next to other tables.

 

In the second picture, the table in the lower left is a table for two and you can see how close it is to a table for six. Most of the tables for two are like this.

 

If you want a table for two, be sure that Princess (or your TA if you used one) has put that as your request for dinner table size.

 

Breakfast and lunch in the dining room are open seating.

[Aggie83]

My husband and I did the Rome-Athens cruise last year on the Ocean Princess and really enjoyed the ship. We have signed up for another cruise on the OP in August 2012. One of the nice things is that when you go to a port, it isn't a small city descending upon the port. This was especially nice in the Greek Isles ports. We didn't feel like we missed anything by being on a smaller ship. The crew was very nice and the Captain obviously loves his ship.

[snoozecruise]

Pictures were great Caribill.....couldn't resist looking at all of them not just the dining room. I thought my other half took lots of pictures on cruise ships but you would definately beat him !

[caribill]

Pictures were great Caribill.....couldn't resist looking at all of them not just the dining room.

 

Glad you enjoyed them.

[Waynetor]

Snoozecruise: I'm on the same cruise as you (boarding in Rome). It will be our first time on the Ocean P. Come on over and join our roll call, we could use some advise on Cairns.