I chose the Oceana because she was a medium size ship, so not too big for a first voyage, as I was travelling on my own. I did a fly-cruise holiday as I love flying and flew from Manchester Airport to Venice where I boarded her. The transition through the airport was fairly smooth and I boarded the plane and found my seat very easily. I really enjoyed my flight, and thought that the extra £10.00 I paid for my window seat, was exceptional value as I got a beautiful view of the sunrise (we had taken off at about 6.30 am BST, and I was seated on the port (or east side) of the aircraft as we flew south) and the Alps as we flew over them. The cabin staff couldn't be more helpful, and the drop down screens above some of the seats, showed a more or less continuous map of our flight, which I also enjoyed watching.

When I reached Venice my transition from the aircraft to the coach (which took me to my ship) was very uneventful and my embarkation of Oceana went very smoothly as I was told what to do and where to go. My first meal on board was a bar-be-que style meal and very enjoyable (as were all the meals that I had on her). When I was told that my cabin was ready for me, I thought that my cases would be outside my it, but I had to wait a little while for them to arrive. I was pleased with the fact that for my first evening meal, the dress code was smart casual (which meant that, like most people, I was able to stay in the clothes that I had travelled in for it).

The Black Tie evenings were all fairly low key affairs but I was pleased to see that many families made sure that their children also dressed up for them. Even though I was led to believe that black and white would be the main colours for these evenings, other, brighter, colours were acceptable. The only criticism that I have about the evening meals was that the menus tended to be very "samey" (i.e. there was not much difference in the choice each evening). I chose Freedom Dining so that I could sit at a different table each evening and meet new people. This was an experience that I enjoyed as I don't socialise very much at home. Read more