Is Oceana really that bad?

[vinoblanco]

Was looking at a Med cruise for this summer with an itinerary I like, but, after reading the recent reviews am having doubts. Tired ship, awful food, poor service etc. Any thoughts anyone?

[Ryburghlad]

Absolute rubbish Oceana is a cracking ship, yes the balconys do have a metal screen rather than the glass ones of Ventura and others, but of all f the P&O ships we have been on, we remember Oceana's food as the best of them all!

[Hols4]

Hols 4

Went on Oceana for 26 days in Nov/Dec and had a lovely cruise. The atrium is stunning and although there is a bit of rust on the outside it did not bother us. The cabin staff were great and most of the food good. The best acts were put in Starlights which has a bad seating arrangement,every other row of seats is too low!

Would go on her again not half as bad as reviews would suggest.

Hope of some help.

[daiB]

Yes I will go with rubbish.

[vinoblanco]

Absolute rubbish Oceana is a cracking ship, yes the balconys do have a metal screen rather than the glass ones of Ventura and others, but of all f the P&O ships we have been on, we remember Oceana's food as the best of them all!

 

I hadn't realised that the balconies weren't glass. We like sitting on the balcony in the evening watching the sun set and the sea go by. And in the mornings with our tea. 😩 Thank you for pointing that out.

[wilson2579]

Been on oceana twice and loved it. Fantastic atrium.:)

[annieuk]

We are on Oceana for a Med cruise in May - it will be the 5th time we will have been on her since we first went in 2005. She is a lovely ship - stunning atrium and lovely in the sun. Yes she is not new- we were on her last year and we thought she was still lovely. It has never bothered us that there isn't glass in the lower part of the balcony - I'd forgotten until someone mention it - not a problem for us. We are really looking forward to being on her again.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We went on her twice last year and wouldn't hesitate to go on her again.

 

She is a lovely ship. The food was very good and the entertainment was excellent.

 

Bit of rust on her, but hey we are used to that, we have been on Thomson :D:D

 

Sorry Thomson :o:o

[the english lady]

We did a 3/4 day cruise on her a few years ago.

Atrium is stunning. Other parts of her we liked.

What I did not like, and it has stopped me booking on her again is the size of the bathroom..its a broom cupboard.

You open the bathroom door...toilet left..basin in front..shower right. if not that order, them something similar. Had to come into the cabin to dry myself after a shower. Takes all sorts of people to like different ships..some will say it was not a problem at all. It matters to me..

I would prefer to go on ships that have bathROOMS.

[Ataraxia]

It is not an awful ship - more suited for the sun - but it was not suited for us.

[vinoblanco]

Thank you all for your comments. It's sometimes a bit suspect when you see a rash of poor reviews from a single cruise, they all seemed to be referring to the Christmas/ New Year. Maybe a group of hard to please friends with over inflated expectations? However, the solid balconies do put me off. We once booked a lower deck on HAL Noordam and didn't realise it had a solid balcony till we boarded and it did spoil it a bit that we couldn't see the sea when sitting down. Have found a similar cruise on Royal Princess so going with that, however, looking forward to my second P & O cruise this coming Christmas

/New Year.

[gadabout60]

I was on the Christmas and New Year cruise but haven't looked at the reviews as to be honest I just wanted to try and forget the holiday. I am really not surprised there were bad reviews as we spoke to many unhappy cruisers (and a few who loved it!) Wasn't aware of any big groups.

 

It was my 10th cruise - 4th at Christmas and the worst

if this was my first cruise I wouldn't cruise again

 

Bad food (cheap tough meat, mushy veg etc). Carelessly plated - at our table on Christmas day we all had the turkey and every plate had something missing from it

Buffet was terrible - really bad food, little choice and passengers walking past the hand gel and picking food up with their hands and putting it down again. We stopped going after a couple of days.

 

You could not dry yourself in the bathroom after a shower - no room at all to do this

Our steward (first time I have known this) was poor. We had to ask her to clean our bathroom as it was grubby after a few days

 

We had a broken bathroom door (it wouldn't shut and it took 3 days to fix it because of the holidays), a balcony door that needed re-hung and a leaking toilet that overflowed 3 times. At one point we had four workmen in the cabin.

De-humidifiers were on frequently in our corridor and were noisy.

 

The entertainment was woeful. I like a good speaker. There was only one - speaking on oceanography and I gave her a try but the subject matter wasn't to my taste. On another site I am reading a review of a Cunard world cruise, and a blog of a cruise on Oceania and the speakers sound amazing (Bill Bryson on Cunard for example) I appreciate that P&O is not competing with Oceania but the prices on Cunard and P&O at Christmas are similar so one could expect a similar product

 

The three sea days back to the UK were amongst the longest days of my life! One day I only left the cabin to go to dinner as I couldn't face what was going on around the ship. Southampton couldn't come fast enough

 

I know when one is critical of P&O there is a barrage of protests. So be it. What we paid for this Christmas cruise was quite a lot and this cruise was miles away from being value for money.

 

I won't be on this ship again. I have learned that I need better food including a choice of speciality restaurants. Our experience in the beach house was average at best, and we went to MPW cafe for lunch most days to avoid the buffet so going again at night had little appeal.

 

Horses for courses. Some people are obviously happy to settle for this. I have had better on my 9 previous cruises

[vinoblanco]

Gadabout60, what you're saying is similar to the poor reviews. What a shame. There were lots of comments about Christmas dinner being poor.

[Bacardi..]

We were on ventura at Christmas and the dinner was poor, the Buffett was the worse I had on a p&o ship same s..t every day.

 

It sounds like your complaints are more like the changes p&o are making across the fleet, not just the oceana

 

We were on the oceana last year, it was the best cruise I've ever done. It was so busy with loads of ports the entertainment was great with live music round the pool on sea days (afternoon for a couple of hours) all the singers in the bars could actually sing very well

 

 

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[zib_zib]

Just had 35 days on the rust bucket. I definitely needs an update. Going up the stairs from the lido deck to the horizon grill there are big rust holes that are painted over. Everyday they were areas closed off so they could repair something. The banister rails on the upper deck was taken off for repairs. They never stopped varnishing everything. In one if the men's toilets, the toilet roll holder is held on with duck tape. The carpet joins are coming apart. Rust everywhere

The food was not very well put together, weird combinations and we had green beans with everything

Ohh and no crows nest.

 

But it's a cruise and it's better than being at home. So we'd go on her again.

 

Oriana next time, in April, but she's in a sorry state as well

 

 

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[yuvraj]

We were on the Oceana a few years ago. Very much enjoyed the cruise and the P&O service.

 

It is not my favourite ship. Prefer Oriana which is a similar ship but different layout. Also prefer Ventura which is a bigger, family ship.

 

I would happily sail on Oceana again but as I said not my favourite.

[daisymay1960]

We were on Oceana last year , loved it going back in June

[TotallyAngelic]

We are going on Oceana in May ...first time with P&O after enjoying cruises with Disney and Royal Caribbean so hoping that things on Oceana are not as bad as some reviews suggest. That said, my expectations are realistic, she is an older ship and a bit of needed maintenance will not spoil my experience. As for the food, I am not preparing it, cooking it, clearing it or washing up after it so it will be a nice change, and I am not really a fan of high end gourmet fussy food, so I am sure what they offer will be fine. We are cruising in Italy and will be eating off the ship for most lunches so I am sure we won't starve, even if the food is dire. For less than £100 a night pp for the cruise plus return flights from UK, visiting 4 wonderful places in the sun, I am not going to be disappointed. :D:D:D

[hugoc]

Maybe try another company or newer ships

Edited February 21, 2016 by hugoc

[Derbyshire dolly]

Oh dear...I've read some bad reviews of P&O ships in general, we are on Aurora in May for the fjords and I've gone from looking forward to it, to wishing I'd not booked. The food issue seems to be pretty much across all ships unless you go for the speciality dining, which of course costs more! Oh well..as said, I won't be cooking it or washing up, so hopefully the scenery will make up for what the ship lacks.

[brillo]

Just come off Adonia, great food, great entertainment, no rust.

This has been my experience on al three PO ships that I have been on, there are always moaners many of whom do not appear to have been on the same ships as me !!!

Booked on Britannia for Christmas.

[daiB]

Oh dear...I've read some bad reviews of P&O ships in general, we are on Aurora in May for the fjords and I've gone from looking forward to it, to wishing I'd not booked. The food issue seems to be pretty much across all ships unless you go for the speciality dining, which of course costs more! Oh well..as said, I won't be cooking it or washing up, so hopefully the scenery will make up for what the ship lacks.

 

 

I cruise 4/5 times a year and find the food to be very good to excellent. God knows what these other people have at home but there is little wrong with the food in the MDR. If you go with the attitude that the food is poor then it will be . Forget the reviews and go and enjoy the food and the cruise.

 

Stop reading reviews.

[yuvraj]

I have been on quite a few P&O ships including Oceana, Oriana and Ventura.

 

Comments about food are subjective so don't take too much notice of those who don't like the food on P&O ships.

 

First some positives. The food is designed for British tastes and features a range of traditional favourites. It isn't always posh food but food I like to eat. Perhaps the old fashioned pub food (before pubs went poncy) is a good description. Puddings are usually very good and superior to ones on American cruise lines IMO.

 

It would be fair to say sometimes it is hit and miss. You might have a really great meal and then the next day it might disappoint depending on what you ordered. Still I wouldn't rate it as bad and certainly no worse than what you might get in an average pub.

 

The breakfast is really good by the way and it is worth going to the dinning room for.

 

I also found the quality much better at lunch than at dinner so make a point of going to the dinning room for lunch. Fish and Chips was really memorable.

 

Most people will enjoy the food on P&O ships and appreciate the celebration of British cuisine. The whole experience is British, especially the sail away parties.

 

I believe that most people who have reservations about food on P&O due to the reviews will be pleasantly surprised.

Edited February 22, 2016 by yuvraj

[artemis10]

While I agree that comments about food are subjective I can only comment about my experience at the moment. We are currently on Aurora world cruise and I have to say the food in the buffet the worst I have ever experienced on a Pando ship, cheap ingredients. Cheap fish. Cheap cuts of meat if there is any at all. It's more like a vegetarian cruise, lots of beans, chickpeas and pasta. Last year we spent a lot of time on Arcadia and left her at the end of September and on the whole the food was good. All I can say is Pando have made lots of cuts prior to Christmas and it shows this is without a doubt the worst world cruise we have been on, and it's our seventh with Pando. Unfortunately we are already booked for Arcadia worldly 2017 if we weren't I wouldn't bother.

[the english lady]

Oh dear...I've read some bad reviews of P&O ships in general, we are on Aurora in May for the fjords and I've gone from looking forward to it, to wishing I'd not booked. The food issue seems to be pretty much across all ships unless you go for the speciality dining, which of course costs more! Oh well..as said, I won't be cooking it or washing up, so hopefully the scenery will make up for what the ship lacks.

 

We were on Aurora in Dec 15 (not Christmas) and are on her again this year.

We found nothing wrong with the food. It a very subjective thing.

I had fish most nights, as I am not a big meat eater.

A couple of years ago Pando seemed to have the world supply of broccoli, now its green beans. However as you say no menu planning, no cooking, no washing up.

I am never sure what people expect from the MDR. It is mass catering, but from some comments you read here and elsewhere people seem to be expecting fine dining-which you will not get in an MDR.

If something is not to your liking ,let the waiters know. They will always offer to get you something else.

Arcadia and Aurora are our favourite ships. Go and enjoy (you will)