The Ocean Princess is one of the 7 or 8 Renaissance ships that were sold after the 9/11 meltdown to Princess, Azamara and Oceania, and it looks like not much money has been spent by the Princess parent company over the years in retrofitting its public spaces and staterooms or modernizing its decor. It is 670 passengers - Princess' smallest vessel.

Having said that, we have become used to the grandeur and beauty of the Oceania 1250 passsenger, larger ships Marina and Riviera, Seabourn's 450 passenger ships and even in years past to Silversea 290 or 350. 1250 is about our limit. We have also been on the QE2, Regent and HA. So we have sailed and have lots of comparisons with all these ships with higher end ships.

We took this cruise because it fit our vacation schedule and had the circumnavigation of the UK itinerary we wanted - most of all a visit to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The latter we have to say was the high mark of the cruise. And the price was very attractive, in comparison with other offerings in the Northern Europe cruise market this summer among the smaller vessels we prefer. So a lot of people took this cruise because the fares were so reasonable. Real value cruise, and there is nothing wrong with that. Read more