Ocean Village Cruise Review by StitchGirl

We had cruised with Ocean Village (OV) in 2005, on the other Western Med route, and really enjoyed the whole experience. We had a balcony cabin that time (A93 if I remember correctly) and wanted the same grade this time, but the only departure date remaining that had Manchester flights had no BB or BC cabins left, so we decided to push the boat out - so to speak! - and go for an AA suite (A134).

Our flights (with Thomson) were fine, as were the coach transfer and embarkation - all very organised and friendly. We'd had an early flight so had a while to wait to get into the cabin but when we did we were really impressed - great size, comfy, well decorated, really nice. Our neighbours were chain-smokers from what I could tell, which was unfortunate as we are both very anti-smoking (it's fine if you want to do it, just do it somewhere where I don't have to smell it and then smell OF it!) and we were downwind from them so it blew straight onto us when we sat out on our balcony. :o( Obviously this isn't OV's fault, but the sooner smoking is banned from everywhere except selected decks (where I can choose not to go, as opposed to having no choice about smoke blowing at me from next door) the better - this rule is coming in November 09 to OV.

Late that night (Tues) we heard a weird noise coming from above the room, a bit like someone banging metal together REALLY LOUDLY. It seemed to come and go and we were baffled as to what it could be. Earplugs were no use as you could literally feel it through the pillow, it vibrated so much. Having been up since 3.30am for our flight, we were so tired that we somehow managed to fall asleep again. By morning it had stopped. The following day (Weds) we reported it to Reception and they advised that if we heard it again, to call them so that someone could come and hear it first hand to get it sorted. That night it wasn't there. The following night (Thurs) there was a massive thunderstorm that woke us up at about 4.30am and after it had subsided, there again was the mysterious metallic clanging. We called Reception as instructed, they came and listened and said they'd look into it. No chance whatsoever of getting back to sleep with it going on, which made us rather grouchy for our trip to Rome on Friday, though we tried our best to laugh it off and did enjoy Rome a lot despite feeling shattered.

Friday night was the worst - by as early as 8pm the mystery noise was giving it loads, so we called Reception again and a member of staff (I'm not sure what his role was but he was called Rehan) came to hear it. He said he would investigate. In the meantime we went on a bit of a sleuthing session of our own and amid the sideways rain and winds, discovered that our room (which is on the deck below the swimming pool deck) lined up with a pair of fake palm trees, which were merrily blowing backwards and forwards in the wind, as though they were not secured into their fixings properly. Coincidentally, Rehan appeared and was looking around, so we told him what we'd found and he went off with an engineer to find someone to sort it out.

We assumed that even if they couldn't fix it properly they'd at least be able to tether the trees to stop them blowing from side to side, until it could be fixed properly. However this was not the case - the answer we got at about 10pm was that the noise was only present because of the windy weather (yes, we realise that!) and the best they could do for us was to put us in a contingency cabin so we could at least get some sleep (this was going to be the third night of ruined sleep otherwise). Not exactly chuffed at this prospect - we had paid for a suite and expected to be able to sleep in one - we nevertheless jumped at the chance of a decent night's sleep, packed a little bag and trundled off to spend the night (in two single beds) in B294.

Now, we expected that although the palm trees couldn't be fixed during the windy late night of Friday, it would at least be done some time during the whole sunny day of Saturday. Not so. Our (smoky) neighbour had, during the previous week and this week, repeatedly complained to Reception about the noise of staff dragging and dropping deck chairs/sun loungers at 6am every morning and had reached the end of her tether and demanded to see someone in charge. She asked if we'd like to go along too and of course we said yes, expecting to see the 'hotel manager' equivalent. For some reason though, we ended up talking to the Bar Operations Manager, who only had jurisdiction over the bar/cafe staff, so the whole meeting was a waste of time as he couldn't say anything about what was happening with the trees. He did promise though that he would instruct the deck staff not to put anything out till after 8.30am (incidentally, this seemed to be ignored - my husband heard the usual dragging and dropping at 6.30am the next day). Luckily for us, Saturday night was not windy at all (partly because we were sailing more slowly) and lo, the trees remained silent. The Planet show was on that night on the top deck, and as we expected (having seen the Moon show in 2005) was very good indeed.

I don't remember hearing the palm tree noise again during a night, though this may be because I was lucky and managed to fall asleep (earplugs firmly in place) before it started up. My husband however, was woken up at 1.30am on Monday morning by the sound of deck 12 above us being cleaned. After so many consecutive nights of broken sleep he just couldn't take it and went down to Reception yet again (they knew us by name by now) to ask if it could be stopped, which it duly was. However once again, a rubbish night's sleep in advance of our excursion, this time a walking tour of Barcelona, leaving him really tired in the morning.

Now I appreciate that of course the deck does need cleaning, and chairs and loungers etc do need to be put out, but it's like none of the staff seem to understand that people are sleeping right below them - the information folder in the cabins clearly states that passengers shouldn't use deck 12 as a jogging route out of consideration for people in the cabins situated directly below, YET their own staff seem to have no comprehension of this fact. There were elderly occupants on either side of our cabin, and the thumping from above was often unbelievably loud - I was frequently startled by it and felt my heart jump, so I dread to think what it could have felt like to them. When everything else is quiet in the night, some of these sounds seriously felt like explosions, they were that sudden and loud. The worst thing was that it wasn't consistent, so you might think it had finished, start to drift off to sleep, only for it to come back with a vengeance and scare you awake again.

Incidentally, the trees on the opposite side of the pool were doing the same thing, although slightly quieter, and the cabins in the equivalent location to ours but on the starboard side also had the same noise going on in the ceiling of the corridor. I guess that as it was quieter they mustn't have been bothered by it. We were told that to fix the trees they would have to do some major work on them back in Palma, obviously too late to benefit us but for the sake of the next occupants of A134 I really hope they did. It wouldn't surprise me though if they just put it down to us being picky and left things as they are - Rehan promised on a number of occasions that he would sort it (to the point where he kept saying 'remember my name - Rehan', as if he was expecting us to write him a good service card...err, well maybe if you'd actually solved the problem we would have done?). You may also think that we were being picky, but two separate members of staff (one from La Luna and one from the Action Ashore team) both passed along our corridor at night while the noise was going on and agreed with us that it was unacceptable. And trust me, if you'd been there and heard it, you'd agree too.

So you've gathered that we weren't too impressed with the soundproofing of what is supposedly the creme de la creme of cabins, which was a massive shame as the suite was SO lovely otherwise. We enjoyed the food (especially La Luna, where they made us feel so special with all the personal treatment) and entertainment (especially the Annie Lennox tribute, Jayne Middleton, who was fab) and we enjoyed the three ports that we went ashore at (Rome, Barcelona and St Raphael). However I must just mention my experience at the Karma Spa, as that was another disappointment (though it may just have been the particular lady who did my treatment - a friend of mine onboard had a different masseuse and said hers was fantastic).

I had the '3 treatments for £60' deal, choosing the Balinese scalp massage, the facial and the back/neck/shoulder massage. The facial was okay, but nothing special (she seemed to ignore anything higher than my eyebrows for some reason). The b/n/s massage was good (although she didn't touch my neck at all). The scalp massage was bizarre - now I've never had one before, but as far as I know, massage generally involves moving your hands around on someone, and I was expecting the kind of thing that hairdressers do when they shampoo your hair. All she did though was poke her fingers into my head and stay really still, then poke them somewhere slightly different. Of the 20 minutes she did it for I'd say she was completely stationary for 18 and to be honest the poking felt harder as time went by. So in conclusion, the experience definitely wasn't worth £60 by any means, and needless to say I declined the £49 jar of face cream that she tried to flog me afterwards!!

I wouldn't go as far as to say that our holiday was ruined, but the ongoing noise issue did really put a massive damper on it - you just feel so rubbish when you're being prevented from sleeping properly on so many consecutive nights. I would never book a cabin directly under a main deck again, which prevents us from travelling with OV again as they only have that one deck with balconies and we wouldn't cruise without a balcony.

Also, when it comes down to it - if you're not a kid/teen so don't have all the activities they have, and you're not one who can just fall asleep on a sunlounger regardless of the weather - there's not a huge amount to do on board if you've been on OV before. Things like the fruit/ice carving are interesting to see once but not more than once and we often found ourselves mooching about trying to decide what to do and ending up just going along to the buffet again or surfing the internet over the wifi. The weather obviously didn't help much as it wasn't really warm or sunny enough to just sit and sunbathe, as I'd have liked to, on most of the days.

I definitely want to cruise again, just not on this ship and not in a cabin directly under a main leisure deck!! If you've read this far - congratulations and thanks for your patience! ;o)

* Good points - food variety and quality, ports visited, staff (mostly) very friendly, the entertainment put on by the events team, the wifi available in the Village Square, the flights and transfers, the photos taken by the photo team were fantastic (though a little pricey), the general casual nature onboard

* Bad points - the frequent noise in the cabin and the fact that this was never resolved or really apologised for, the smoking on next door's balcony (not OV's fault but I personally prefer a smoke-free environment), the weather (again, not their fault of course but it did change the mood of the week for us), the poor value for money of the spa experience, the shops aren't great and the daytime programme of entertainment is a bit lacking (especially if you've cruised with them before and seen it all already)