Ocean Village/Thomson Dream

[lppwrth]

I have sailed on 2 Caribbean Cruises on the OV and was wondering how she compares to The Dream.

I have looked at images of both ships and OV seemed maybe shorter, but also looks higher?

The only other Thomson ship I have been on was The Celebration. This ship did not have the central atrium that the OV had, which I missed. The pools were smaller than OV.

After my one week sailing on The Celebration, I was impressed with the friendliness and service of the staff and that's why I have booked for this next trip sailing on 27th January for 2 weeks.

So has anyone been on OV and Dream and can offer any comparisons?

Lorraine

[kruzseeka]

I have sailed on 2 Caribbean Cruises on the OV and was wondering how she compares to The Dream.

I have looked at images of both ships and OV seemed maybe shorter, but also looks higher?

The only other Thomson ship I have been on was The Celebration. This ship did not have the central atrium that the OV had, which I missed. The pools were smaller than OV.

After my one week sailing on The Celebration, I was impressed with the friendliness and service of the staff and that's why I have booked for this next trip sailing on 27th January for 2 weeks.

So has anyone been on OV and Dream and can offer any comparisons?

Lorraine

 

Sorry, no can't provide a comparison of OV and Dream although I'm sure someone will be able to! But as for the Celebration and Dream you will find the Dream much more spacious in terms of pool deck and space generally.

 

Dream: Tonnage 55K Length 243m Width 30 Passengers 1500

Celebration: Tonnage 34K Length 215 Width 27 Passengers 1250

(I think both can carry more passengers if all upper berths are filled but you will see that for not a huge increase in passenger numbers Dream is quite a lot bigger than Celebration)

 

Tonnage is water displacement but is a reasonable indication of the size of a ship - and you will certainly notice that it is a bigger ship and feels a much bigger ship but still retains the warmth and friendliness of Celebration. The dining room is certainly more spacious with more room between tables and because of some cinema-style seating at the rear of the showlounge I've never found it difficult to get in for a show and as the seats are fixed you don't get the possibility of someone dragging a seat right in front of you at the last minute! :D However, there is no atrium or other WOW factor I'm afraid but if you likes Celebration I'm sure you'll enjoy Dream.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Jim the Scott is your man for this :) he has been on both several times.

 

I have been on both, but I didn't like Ocean Village :( I know it was meant to be informal, but it was too informal for us. Saying that, I wouldn't fancy Cunard either, as I imagine they would be too formal. That is what most people on here like about Thomson - it is not too stuffy but also not too laid back either - just right!

 

As Kruzseeka says there is no atrium, but for me friendly staff is a much more important factor :)

[Ginjoli]

I have sailed on 2 Caribbean Cruises on the OV and was wondering how she compares to The Dream.

I have looked at images of both ships and OV seemed maybe shorter, but also looks higher?

The only other Thomson ship I have been on was The Celebration. This ship did not have the central atrium that the OV had, which I missed. The pools were smaller than OV.

After my one week sailing on The Celebration, I was impressed with the friendliness and service of the staff and that's why I have booked for this next trip sailing on 27th January for 2 weeks.

So has anyone been on OV and Dream and can offer any comparisons?

Lorraine

Happy to help.

We loved our 4 cruises with Ocean Village (3 Western Med on O.V. 2 and 1 Eastern Med on O.V.1).

We were so disappointed when both ships were taken out of U.K. service and convinced we would never find a replacement which suited our requirements. However, a colleague recommended Thomson Dream to me, and I reluctantly decided to give it a go, fully expecting to be disappointed.

Like you, I knew we would miss the lovely atrium, the balcony and also tea and coffee-making facilities.

How wrong can you be! - We absolutely loved the Dream - actually preferred it to Ocean Village!!

We chose an Outside Plus cabin on Deck 9 (Promenade Deck) which was excellent - very spacious, with a lovely seating area - Sofa, chair and 2 occasional tables. Our cabin was ideally located for access to the Promenade Deck, Lido S/S Restaurant, Sirens and all other facilities. I admit I did miss having a balcony, but realised it wasnt a necessity

The friendly, but professional crew are an absolute delight, and just make the holiday. (they reminded us of the crew on Ocean Village!)

One definite plus is the fabulous a la Carte restaurant - the Orion, with no cover charge.

In fact we loved the Dream so much in 2012, we booked for 2013 within 2 months of returning, to ensure we had the same cabin (How sad is that!)

Go ahead and book - you won't regret it - and now that Dream has gone Platinum, it can only get better!

From Ginjoli

[lppwrth]

Ginjoli,

I have already booked and are sailing on 27th January. I was just getting excited and asking more and more questions. Could not speak about it until Christmas Day as the cruise was a surprise Christmas present for my husband.

Although we had a great time on the Celebration I was hoping for just a little bit more of a wow factor from The Dream.

We have got an outside plus cabin, but on either deck 5/6, not taken the plunge and booked a specific cabin...thought we would keep our fingers crossed and leave it to chance and hope to be in a quiet non-vibrating location.

Loved the friendliness on the last Thomson cruise, so I am really looking forward to this one.

Need to pack away all the Christmas chocs now and concentrate on loosing some weight to enjoy the Caribbean sunshine.

Thanks for your reply.

Lorraine

[Vitalsign]

My first cruises were on Thomson followed by cruises with OV and OV2 I loved the old P & O ships used by OV and the food was fantastic. I found the crew and entertainment staff just as good as Thomson but OV timings of evening entertainment used to drive us mad because they overlapped and to get the beginning of one you had to miss the end of another if you wanted dinner!! I have since been on the Dream and Celebration and prefer entertainment on the Celebration as its always at the back of the ship. We had problems on the Dream as the entertainment was on the central pool deck and it was very windy and the lovely stern pool deck was never used for entertainment at all. Thomsons food quality has diminished since my first cruises and the tiny cake deserts are awful and you'll never see a prawn or salmon but that said we love the entertainment and the atmosphere and the Dream has larger cabins and is wider than the Celebration and was very stable in heavy seas.

I recommend Thomson to anyone I can and since returning to cruise with them our party cruising has increased from 2 to 10 at the last count. Book and enjoy.

Thomson Spirit Palma to Sharm el Sheikh Oct 2005

Thomson Celebration Red Sea Magic Jan 2007

Ocean Village Caribbean & Central America Feb 2008

Ocean Village 2 Eastern Med August 2008

Ocean Village 2 Caribbean Feb 2009

Ocean Village South Caribbean Mar 2010

Thomson Dream Cuba & Caribbean Feb 2011

Thomson Celebration Eastern Med August 2011

Thomson Celebration Red Sea Magic April 2012

Thomson Eastern Wonders Red Sea Repo to Med April/May 2012

Thomson Dream Caribbean Feb 2013

[Jim The Scot]

Sailed on OV2 3/4 times and loved everyone.Ship layout much better,the atrium,the decor in general,lovely cabins although smaller than the dream,better decor,soft furnishings etc..The 24hr buffet restaurant layout much better and the food on OV2 was excellent...

 

Like ginjoli were disappointed when OV2 were taken out of UK service and thought that would be an end to our cruising as we also thought we would never find a replacement that suited us..WRONG

 

We tried the Dream and loved it so much this year will be our 3rd(4th?) cruise on her.Although the Dream does not have the wow factor of OV2,the cabins are more than adequate(miss my balcony though)food is good,very good in the Orion,entertainment is excellent as are the staff but the cherry topping for me is the fellow passengers,top of the pops.The general atmosphere on the Dream is much better than OV2

 

[seatman]

Having cruised both OV ships and loved and still miss them decided to try Thomson Dream in October 2010. First impression was that it was smaller and of an older design. When boarding the smell of sewage hit us and remained with us all through the cruise but from reports from this web site has commented much improved it is ( hope so as booked in april 2013 ). The crews on both ships are very friendly and the cabins are always kept to a high standard. The Dream had a very good entertainment team but the OV had a better show centre but secondary entertainment was a little better on the Dream. Where the Dream really falls down is its lack of Balcony cabins, I think there are about half a dozen, and as others have commented there is no central atruim. What Thomson need is a decent size modern ship something like P&O Oceana or Ventura or one of the Tui fleet

Airtours Seawing, Caruosel and Sunbird

Ocean Village 1 & 2

P & O Ventura

Thomson Dream and Spirit