We have just returned from a 7 night cruise on Oceana, sailing from Genoa to Venice and these are our thoughts on the total experience.

We flew on BA scheduled flights from Gatwick, which worked out pretty well. Genoa airport is very small and because we were on a scheduled flight we had to collect our luggage from the carousel and take it to the coaches. This didn’t go too badly and the P&O staff were visible every step of the way, so you really couldn’t go wrong. Transfer to the ship took around 20 minutes and we were on board around midday. However, our luggage did not arrive at our cabin until 5.15 p.m! We barely had time to start to unpack before muster stations at 5.30 p.m. We can only assume that rather than pay for a lorry to make the individual journey with luggage as each flight lands, P&O are making the lorries wait until a few flights have arrived so that if you happen to be on an early flight, your luggage will be held at the airport until the later flights arrive.

The boarding process was very quick and easy and we were pleased to find out that, despite having booked an Early Saver Fare, we were given Freedom dining. Read more