Cruises - Ocean Village

We went on an Island Cruise holiday in April last year whch is a similar standard to Ocean Village. The cruise was mainly families rather than OAP's as it was billed as a family holiday. It was nice as it as an informal cruise which meant we didn't have to dress up for the evening meals. The food on board was lovely and excursions although expensive on the whole were good fun. We had an outside cabin (no balcony) but tbh we hardly spent any time in it. That said most of the time spent at sea was during the night. Have a look at the itinery and see if you have a lot of day at sea, if you do then I'd go for the balcony as the decks do tend to get really busy during sea days, if you don't then I wouldn;t bother as the boat practically empties when at port.

Also be careful what you spend on board, when our final bill came we were shocked to discover that we'd spent almost £2k in just 7 days, that said almost half of that went on excursions.

We had a great time and my kids loved it so yes I would recommend it.

£2K?? Thats put me off a bit ? mighjt miss that bit out when i tell my H

there were only 2 full days at sea from memory, so i guess really its not worth the balcony then. was there a good choice of food? my H is really picky. it says that all the buffets are included in the price, so i presume all other places/bars etc are payable on board as well as all excursions.

The food was varied and plentiful. The were 3 or 4 self serving/buffett style resturants that we could eat in for free, there was also a fast food type place opne during the day which served things like hot dogs and chips. There was also a waitress resturants that you had to pre-book, dress up for and pay extra for. The thing that was really expensive was all the drinks - neither my husband or I drink alcohol so although they had special offers on like cocktail of the day and BOGOF on some alcoholic drinks, there was nothing for soft drinks. They'll also photograph at every given opportunity (including the lifeboat drill!).

We went on an ocean village cruise a couple of years ago but around the med but they are definitely much more relaxed and not at all full of old people much more family orientated

you should be able to find out excursion prices before you go to give you an idea of costs of those and yes you do pay for drinks etc but you are on holiday! the only thing i would say is they tend to give you a credit type card which you charge all your drinks to whilst on board to save you having cash but it is very easy to spend a lot as it doesn't seem real!

as for the balcony we had one and used it once in a week so not really worth the money, i'd much rather be on deck having a drink or watching the sun/sea so a no from me if we were to go again

We did a 2 weeks med cruise with ocean village last year. It was fab.

We had a balcony and it was well worth it.

They did have a great kids' club which our 3 year old loved so that gave us some proper relaxation!

Truthfully there were more old people than I expected - but really, so what? It's not like you'll be having to be bosom buddies with them.

H says we spent about 1500 in the 2 weeks on trips, special meals, drinks etc. I remember it being about half that ?

Haven't been on an Ocean Village cruise yet, so far always been with Royal Caribbean. But I have heard a lot of good things about Ocean Village, young and relaxed atmosphere (not quite as luxurious as Royal Caribbean though). We love a balcony, it's heavenly to have breakfast on the balcony as you sail in to part, or just be able to open the window and listen to the ocean while you are lying in bed. So to us, it would be worth it.

Regarding excursions: we hardly ever book one through the ship as they are so expensive. We research the destination, find what we want to do and go off on our own. This has saved us a whole lot of money! Plus check out www.cruisecritic.com The boards there have tons of information, not just on the cruise lines, but also the ports, so can be handy!

We went on a Princess Cruise around the Caribbean for our honeymoon last Christmas and it was amazing. We didn't have a balcony room but had an outside room with a large window which was lovely. Tbh don't think we would really have used the balcony that much as another poster said, the boat empties most days, and although we had 2 days at sea when the boat was really busy, if you get up early and get your spot then it's fine,

The excursions are very expensive but you don't have to do them. Most of the ports in the caribbean are within walking distance of the towns and there's loads and loads of touts that wait for the cruise ships to dock and will take you on excursions for far cheaper.

There was a real mix of people on our ship, from real chavs to super posh people. H and I weren't too bothered about making friends as we were on our honeymoon, so it didn't really bother us. It was quite amusing choosing the share a table option at dinner though as you just get put on any table and meet all sorts of people. If Ocean Village give you a choie of fixed or personal dining make sure you go for personal dining, as the fixed option means you have to eat on the same table with he same people at the same time evry night. Loads of people on our cruise wanted to change from it.

Moneywise, just keep checking your balance, you should be able to pay it off as you go along. We spent more than we realised but didn't hold back as it was our honeymoon, we had budgeted enough so it was fine in the end.

I couldn't recommend cruising enough and would love to go on another!

We did the 2 week caribbean cruise for our honeymoon in a room with balcony and it was great. We did the use balcony for a bit of sunbathing in peace and when we left each island we'd sit out there and watch the view. Everyone usually crams onto the top deck to watch the boat leave so it was great to have a bit of peace. It was soo cool to see all the islands and we did quite a few tours and got some great memories.

We've also done a week round the Med with OV but in a normal room with just a window as we didnt think the views would be as stunning as the Caribbean.

We've never found the cruises full of old people - usually lots of younger couples (with or without kids) and middleaged people.

Theres always plenty to do on the boat as they have entertainment during the day and night, and the food is 24hours which my H loved as when he finished drinking in the early hours he would pop up to the restaurant and get a hot dog and chips!!

We're planning to do another one soon but our son is a bit young at the mo and we want him to enjoy himself

Thanks everyone for your replies, sorry didnt reply last night, the PC at home crashed on me!

will get H to read all your opinions as they all seem good, still undecided about the balcony though?