tizwiz

Just a quick update. I have now had my refund. However no apology or explanation as to why I was sold something that they knew could not take place. In fact not even an email to say the refund had been done. Hey ho.

Thank you for your suggestion. However it will not help. On this occasion I did not use a travel agent.  I booked directly with Cunard. So chasing them is down to me. However I am still of the view that it shouldn’t be necessary whether or not I used a travel agent. They made the mistake so I should have been refunded immediately the ship told me the event could not take place and it had been cancelled. That was 10 days ago and yet no refund to date. It is only a small amount of money but it is these little matters that show which companies really care about their guests whether it is pre cruise or post cruise.

17 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

tizwiz, 

I thought your review was excellent and very informative. Thank you for taking the time to post. I also hope that the family dog is well. 

On our last crossing (May of this year)  I had a small issue for which I requested a refund. After a couple of unsuccessful calls to Customer Service I was given other contact information. The refund was then handled quickly. The contact I was given is guestrelations@cunard.com. Hope this helps.

Jack

Hi Jack

Thank you for your kind words. Our dog is much better now. She is getting old (aren’t we all!) as she is nearly 11 now. Thank you also for the contact email address. I will certainly try it in order to sort out my refund. Mind you - as they cancelled the event then the refund should not have to be chased. It certainly creates a bad impression. 
 

Say hello to Chicago for me. We had a lovely stay in Chicago some years ago at the beginning of a wonderful road and rail trip across the US. Good memories.

Thank you all for your comments to my post. I just thought I would come back on some of the comments made. 

As seasoned cruisers we know not to travel on the day the cruise starts. It is far too stressful. I had found a lovely pub/hotel (very recommended) about an hour from Southampton with the added bonus of being located not too far from a very old friend who had not been well recently. So we were all set to visit her and have a relaxing stay and dinner the night before the cruise. Unfortunately best laid plans and all that. Our beloved dog was ill a few days before we were due to set off, so we had to visit the vet and ensure she was ok before we could decide whether to go or cancel the cruise. As we had to give her until the Saturday morning to improve, we obviously had to cancel the hotel. So that's why we had to travel on the morning of the cruise. Obviously we weren't able to visit see our old friend either. Everything went wrong that week and the dreadful journey just added to the stress! But as I said this was our fault and our problem and was not in any way attributable to Cunard.

I do not agree that starting to prepare the suite before the previous occupants have left is acceptable. We left the suite at 7.50am which should be early enough for the turnaround. On all other cruises we have been on we have always been able to board by midday or shortly after and at the end of the cruise we have departed straight from the suite. Nothing was done to those suites until we left. My point really is that with Covid precautions, linens and toiletries to be used by the next occupants should not really be available to be touched by the outgoing guests. 

I would agree that a short cruise is perhaps not a true reflection of Cunard's strengths. I did not enjoy the crowded party atmosphere on the decks where most activities took place. But 5 nights is not that short and  we have done lots of 7 night cruises on smaller ships which were at full capacity but never felt crowded or frenetic. I think the cold weather keeping guests inside all the time perhaps did not help. I would stress that we did enjoy our stay on the QM2, but it did not match up to our experiences on other cruise lines on this occasion. We are also driven by itineraries rather than brand loyalty so maybe at some point we will have another try on a Cunard ship.

As an update to my refund issue for the cancelled gift experience, I have still not had a reply or a refund from Cunard. Poor communication in customer services may also be an issue....

We have just returned from the 5 day Christmas Markets cruise on QM2 (10-15 December). I thought I would post about our experience. As background I should say that we have been cruising for many years and have experienced lots of different cruise lines during that time. We have previously always preferred to be on smaller ships and our favourite smaller cruise lines are Silversea, Regent and Seabourn. We have avoided larger ships, but because of Covid cancellations, a lot of our planned holidays got kicked into touch. As this was a special year for us (50th wedding anniversary) we were looking for a luxury break that would not involve air travel. So Cunard from Southampton popped into the frame and we thought we would give them a whirl. So we booked this mini break in a QG suite. I would stress that this is our personal experience and others may have different experiences to ours. 

Travelling down to Southampton on the morning of the 10th was problematic and a journey of 130 miles took nearly 2 hours longer than it should have done. We thought we would arrive by 12.00 but it was just past 2pm when we joined the CPS queue at the Mayflower terminal. From there it took an hour to board the ship even though we had priority marked on our boarding passes. We just joined one queue after another. Our fault for arriving late. We weren't asked for our Covid vaccination status information. I asked if they wanted to see it and was told no. We were asked if our health had changed since completing the health declaration?! They obviously didn't get the email stating that this had been withdrawn. Nobody was wearing masks. We missed lunch as it was 3pm by the time we got to our suite on deck 9. Not to worry - we checked in at the muster station as instructed and then ordered some room service.

Our suite was lovely and quite spacious. Very well equipped and warm (unlike the outside temperature!) Our butler popped in to say hello and take our order for the mini bar. I had phoned Cunard several weeks ago to ask that the beers be replaced by cider, as my husband cannot drink beer. They assured me that this would be no problem and that they would ensure it was done. Of course that was not the case and we had to explain to our butler what we needed. After a lot of confusion he sorted it out and the next day cider was provided. Our butler and steward were very pleasant and kept the suite looking lovely. However unpacking and packing were never offered (not that we wanted them). We also never had fruit delivered or offered. The champagne was Laurent Perrier. We had booked a gift experience of a wine tasting event. This was reserved and paid for many weeks ago with Cunard. During our first dinner in the QG, the Sommelier told us that wine tasting was not available on this cruise and we would be refunded. Such a disappointment. I discussed this with the Concierge the next day and she told me that Cunard knew which cruises could not offer these experiences and it should not have been sold to us. She assured us that it would be refunded immediately. Of course that has not happened and I have had to send an email to Cunard to find out what is going on.

We also bought a package for access to the internet. However I would say that the service provided (for the price charged) is shockingly bad. It would not work in the suite properly and the excuse given was that the signal is weakened by the fire safety panels. You really should not have to pay for such a bad service. Not good enough Cunard. The Concierge said she would send an email to ask that our package be cancelled. She may have done this but it was not cancelled and we were charged the full price on our account.

Food in the QG was good and all staff were wonderful. They are a credit to Cunard. We tried most of the special items on the menu including crepes suzette which did not appear on the menu any of the nights we were there, but the staff were quite happy to do them for us. Our table for 2 was fine and we had very friendly neighbours. I do think the tables are a little too close together though. Dress code seemed to be followed by the majority but I was a bit amazed at one passenger who thought it was ok to wear a baseball hat in the restaurant.

The Channel was very calm during our voyage and there was little to no movement felt onboard. We did not get off the ship at any of the ports visited as it was so cold. We just enjoyed the ship. On a couple of days the decks were closed because they were icy. It was sometimes difficult to find a quiet spot to read a book. The lounges had music playing all the time even when they were not really open, including those awful Christmas songs that worm into your head!! The library was a lovely space and we chose some books to read in the quiet zone there. One afternoon I spent a couple of enjoyable hours exploring all the decks and facilities on the ship. The Queens room is a lovely space but I was astounded to see a queue forming for afternoon tea some 30 minutes before it was scheduled to take place. As the gangways were open to the elements and a lot of cold air was circulating, people in the queue had their coats on. Not something I would do though. I went elsewhere. 

On the last morning we got up early as we were to disembark at 8am. We went to breakfast leaving our overnight bags to finish packing when we returned from the restaurant. We were rather taken aback on entering our suite to find that the bed had been split into twin beds and had fresh linens for the next occupants.  The bathroom also now had full bottles of shampoo etc. When you are trying to keep everyone safe from infection and everything is supposed to be cleaned thoroughly, we thought this was very strange and worrying. We hadn't finished with the suite and we felt that we were now trespassing. I know changeover times are tight but we have never experienced anything like this before on any other cruise.

We enjoyed our break. It was relaxing and enjoyable but it could have been so much better. Disembarkation was simple and quick and we were in our car 15 minutes after leaving our suite. The journey back home was quicker than the trip down. Would we cruise with Cunard again?  Not really sure.

Thankyou for the information. Very helpful.

Can anyone tell me how the mini bar works in QG? What choice do you have and is it replenished/restocked every day?

I think I am right in saying that you are allocated a table in QG that is yours for the cruise. Is there any way of asking for a particular table?  For example just for 2 and perhaps a window table or in a quiet corner. How do you request this and what happens if you don’t like the table you are allocated to? 

Thank you so much to everyone who replied. Your comments are very helpful. Hopefully we will meet some of you on our cruise. DH may bring his dress kilt - so we may be easy to spot perhaps! Our actual anniversary was earlier in the year but we have had so many trips cancelled then we have been trying to celebrate every time we get to go somewhere this year.

DH and I are going on a short QM cruise in December from Southampton. It is the first time we have tried Cunard and over many years have previously kept to smaller luxury all-inclusive lines. However we decided to give them a go and are booked in a QG suite which we are looking forward to. However I find that the website is a bit useless and available information is a bit lacking. Maybe its just me! Anyway can anyone help me with the following:

- Why would our cruise have vanished from the website? It just isn't there anymore. Is it because it is fully booked or do I need to worry that they are going to cancel it? We have already had another cruise (different line) cancelled next year so it does happen.

- Does anyone know where berth 106 is in Southampton? I think it is in the Mayflower dock perhaps? Do CPS do the parking there and is it easy to find? We have never been to Southampton before.

- We are celebrating a significant anniversary this year (50th) . Would Cunard do anything special if I were to mention it? And who do I contact?

If anyone can provide any information I would be very grateful

We were on the Spirit. We cruised from Venice to Rome and I nearly handcuffed myself to the cabin because I did not want to leave. I hope things go well with your future cruise. I will be interested to read your review.

I would think I would have to say Ajaccio in Corsica. We certainly feel that is one of the places (but probably the whole island) that we would like to visit again.

To those who were a little worried by my review - please don't be. We would cruise with Seabourn again. If you are booked for a future cruise you will enjoy yourself. I was just highlighting how we thought things had altered from the perfect cruise we had last time. I have given a review directly to Seabourn on the issues we encountered. If they don't follow it up and ask me for further details then I may be more concerned.

We have been home for a week and now that we are back into the routine and the unpacking and washing have been done, I thought I would write down some thoughts on our experiences on Odyssey. This was our second cruise on Seabourn and our first experience had been absolutely wonderful. In fact ever since that first Seabourn cruise, I have told every one who would listen, that Seabourn was the best cruise line to go on. We have also cruised on Regent, Silversea, Oceania, Windstar, and Scenic and are currently looking at two itineraries with Crystal, but this time we were very keen to do Seabourn again because of our first experience with the line.

Our cruise was from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Barcelona 12-19 October and we arrived in Rome a couple of days early to do some specific sightseeing we hadn’t managed on previous Rome trips. We stayed outside the city of Rome not far from the airport and enjoyed a trip to Ostia Antica which is the ancient sea port of Rome. It is a huge site and the ruins of the town are as well preserved as anything at Pompeii or Herculaneum. However it is also lovely and quiet with far fewer tourists than those other ruins, so you can take your time and look at things more closely. The weather was gorgeous and our hotel arranged a return private transfer so everything was easy and relaxed. In the evening we had a simply superb pizza at a local restaurant. They cost less than €8 each! Delicious and a bargain. 

The next day we had another private transfer arranged by the hotel to the port. We arrived at about 11.45. Our bags were dealt with immediately and we went to check in. There were several people already there before us and check in had not yet started, so we found a seat and waited less than 10 minutes before being invited to join the queue to start checking in. This moved very fast and we were on the ship and in the Colonnade eating lunch by 12.15. Very impressive and absolutely no stress or hassle. We were told on check in that suites would be ready by 2pm but in fact they were ready by 12.20. So once we had eaten lunch we went to the suite and started unpacking because the luggage had also arrived. Full marks so far. The suite was lovely and our stewardess (Sanela) was an absolute delight. She was so friendly and nothing was too much trouble. 

There were a few problems in our suite and we think this is probably down to the ship needing a full refurbishment. It was certainly showing wear and tear in certain areas. With regard to our suite there was quite a bit of rust showing on the balcony and the balcony handrail was in need of a good rub down and varnish. One of the chairs had a foot missing and consequently wobbled a lot. The headrests did not stay put because the Velcro fasteners didn’t work anymore. We found this was the same on a lot of loungers on the ship. The screen between the adjoining suite was loose ( more on that later). The shower control had a loose grub screw and was in imminent danger of falling out into the drain and more worryingly the control to stop you turning up the water too high by accident was missing. There was just a hole where it should be in the control dial. We reported these issues twice and they were dealt with after a couple of days. The suite was spacious and well furnished. The bed was not as comfy as others we have experienced and the towels in the bathroom whilst fluffy, were just smallish bath towels not the bath sheets that I remembered and which we get on other cruise lines. When I mentioned this I was given larger bath sheets. We met another couple who had issues with their air conditioning. It was either too cold or too hot and although they sent someone to fix it several times, it proved impossible. So the couple asked for it to be turned off because it was preferable to being too cold or too hot. This must have been an issue for a while in that particular suite. I did have to report a very soiled public ladies toilet to staff on the first night. I have never had to do that before on any cruise we have been on. Worryingly a few days later I had to do this again about another toilet. So some maintenance/ housekeeping issues. 

We mostly chose to share a table or were invited to hosted tables in the Restaurant and we always met wonderful and interesting people. The only exception to that was in the Observation bar one night after dinner where we encountered some less than friendly fellow passengers. But they were a very small minority and were easy to avoid thereafter. And so our very leisurely cruise continued. The second night we ate at the Thomas Keller grill. The food was good but not great. The service was wonderful and attentive but the tables were so close together you couldn’t help joining in with conversations around you. This was ok and always friendly but if you wanted a quiet or romantic dinner then the ambiance was all wrong. I was really looking forward to this meal as a highlight, but it was ordinary really. I think the main restaurant was just as good if not better. But that is just a personal opinion obviously.  We also booked the Colonnade on the night they did the chicken dinner. This was a major disappointment. The plates were cold and the food only just warm. The chicken, whilst juicy, was quite tasteless. It needed some herbs and seasoning in the coating to give some flavour. Not even as good as KFC! And what are those grits about? We did not do the Earth and Ocean dinner because by the time we got around to having a free night to go there, it became closed every night. Probably down to the weather or the temperature at night on deck - not sure. Anyway we missed that experience. We ate in the Colonnade for most breakfasts and lunch. Hot items were never hot - only luke warm. Perhaps they are hot at the beginning of service and as we used to go mid way through the opening hours everything may have cooled off under the heat lamps. But it was a big let down. The themed lunches were ok but I was not keen on the British food one. I had fish and chips and the fish batter was soggy and not crisp, the chips were hard in the middle and the mushy peas were just mashed garden peas which were undercooked. And again the food was only just warm. Service was also a bit slow and it seemed that there were not enough staff around on many occasions. One lady at our table wanted the special of the day but for 10 minutes could not get anyone to take her order. So she gave up and got herself a salad. We had breakfast in the Restaurant one morning which was ok but they did not have what we wanted even though it was on the menu and this was only the second day of the cruise. Service was very slow. Another couple that morning complained very loudly to the wait staff and then to the manager who came to deal with the problem. They said they had been waiting for 30 minutes to give their order.

One thing that Seabourn does very well is special requests. I love scallops but prefer them for an appetiser rather than as a main course. If I ask for a main course to be made into an appetiser for me they always do it willingly. We also asked the staff in the restaurant to slow down the delivery of our courses when we ate alone as we prefer to have time to talk between courses. They were very accommodating and came to ask us if we were ready for each course before they asked for it to be prepared. We really appreciated that attention to detail. My husband asked for baked Camembert cheese and French bread one lunchtime and it was provided and he asked for black cherries every day for breakfast. Again they were made available without having to ask each day.

We only used the pool deck for lunch a couple of times and found it a bit disappointing. The fries were excellent but the pizza was not good enough. A bit of a soggy crust and again not hot enough even though it had just been cooked. The hot dogs were ok but we did not try the burgers. Room service was prompt and the food was good. Sometimes they were slow to return or failed to pick up the trays even when we rang to ask them to come. But I suspect that is down to being busy and again perhaps a reduction in staff available. The coffee bar in Seabourn Square had some lovely biscuits, cakes and sandwiches. The coffees were good and the baristas were very friendly. But again the coffee was never really hot. 

The ports of call were interesting. We did not do any excursions but instead just walked around ourselves. The shuttle services provided were excellent and always dropped you off centrally. Our favourite ports were Ajaccio, Palamos and Palma. In Toulon we were treated to the French Mediterranean fleet doing manoeuvres in the bay. We had a birds eye view of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle from our balcony so that was a bit of an unexpected sight. 

The weather was lovely most of the week. Warm and sunny during most days except for one day which was a bit grey and rainy. The wind got up that day and it was quite rough sailing that night. The Mediterranean can be quite challenging when a storm comes through. We had a problem with the loose balcony screen with the wind and we asked them to fix it as we would not be able to sleep with the noise it was making. They did this very promptly and we did not think anything of it until the next morning when I went on the balcony first thing to look at where we had docked. I had nothing on my feet and I immediately leapt back as I had stood on metal slivers that were all over the decking from the repair to the screen. They had forgotten to clear them up. Fortunately I did not cut my feet and when we reported it they were quite horrified and immediately sorted it out. 

One thing we were  not happy with was the captain. Obviously he did a fine job on the bridge but although we had tannoy messages from him we never saw him at all, except for the first day when he was at the next table to us in the Colonnade for the embarkation lunch. Even then he didn’t engage with passengers. We had an invite to the members cocktail party from him but he did not attend. Lots of people commented about it. It is the first cruise I have been on where the captain has behaved in this way. All other officers and staff we encountered were lovely. We went to both shows by the classical guitarist and enjoyed them very much indeed.

Disembarkation was quick and efficient and we were soon at the airport for our flight home. Barcelona airport has to be one of the worst I have been to. After the serenity of the cruise it was a bit of a shock! 

So in conclusion we had a lovely relaxing cruise but it was not as good as our previous Seabourn experience. The staff were wonderful and deserve 10/10. They are obviously well trained and they are so friendly and helpful. On balance, it was as good as other cruises we have been on but it was no better. We would cruise Seabourn again but not necessarily as a first choice.  I was so looking forward to being reunited with the best of the best, but some standards seem to have slipped a little unfortunately. 

We have just returned from this cruise and as I gained a lot of help and information from people on this forum, I thought I would post a review as this may help or inform others. I understand there may be some who do not like Oceania being criticised and are very loyal to the line. All I can do is say how it was for us.

Although there is some criticism in this review there are also many positives. I am trying to give a balanced view. Anyway - here goes:-

Firstly a bit of background. We have been on many cruises before - mostly on Silversea, Regent and Seabourn. We are always up to try something new and this particular itinerary really interested us, so we thought we would give O a try, especially as we had heard such wonderful things about the line. We were therefore anticipating a good cruise with very interesting ports of call.

We arranged our own flights but the transfer arrangements from Istanbul airport were done by Oceania. This was done very smoothly and we were quickly on our way in a taxi to the port. Arrival was a bit confused and it was strange to do the check in before getting on the ship as we had usually (on other lines) done this on board. The staff at this point were helpful and efficient, but it did not feel very friendly and welcoming. We boarded the ship (it was about 2pm) and were told that we could access our stateroom straight away. This was good as we wanted to dump our hand luggage and get something to eat!!

We had a concierge level stateroom mid-ships on deck 7. I was expecting the room to feel a bit smaller than we had experienced on other ships, so the size was not a problem. Storage seemed badly organised and better use could have been made of the available space. However it was fine and the balcony was lovely. We were on the starboard side so we had a good view of Istanbul and indeed most of the ports we visited from this side of the ship. However my heart sank when I opened the bathroom door. I have never seen such a small bathroom and my heart sank to my feet when I spotted the wall mounted hairdryer. Fortunately I then found a hand held one in a cupboard so this was much better. The size of the bathroom remained a disappointment for us, together with the poor water pressure for the shower. If we sailed with O again on these smaller ships we would have to go for a PH cabin, I think.

We went up to the Terrace to have some lunch after purchasing the premium drinks package. A few glasses of champagne revived us after the journey although the food was not very inspiring and a lot of the 'hot' dishes were decidedly cool. This became a recurring theme throughout the voyage. More of that later.

The ship was full and there were a lot of children from babies in prams to teens. I have posted elsewhere about this but as a quick comment here I would confirm that they were all well behaved and caused no problems for us.

Staff

Most of the staff were wonderful, especially our room attendant (Jimmy). There were others who were cool and detached but all did their jobs efficiently. Our overall impressions was that there were not enough staff members around especially during meal times and this meant that the available staff were rushed off their feet, especially in the GDR. The first night we had problems getting refills of wine as the sommeliers were literally running about trying to serve everyone. Why they also had to fetch beers, soft drinks and other things that the wait staff could have done seemed strange to us and in fact one of them confirmed later in the cruise that this was a big problem for them and meant that they could not do their sommelier duties well. When we got back we looked at the guest staff ratios on all the other ships we had sailed on and this was the worst ratio, so our impression was right. It is also worse than the ratio on the bigger O ships.

Food and drink

We had heard wonderful things about the O cuisine and it had been touted as the best at sea. All I can say is that on this cruise that was not true for us. We had too many cold meals , too many things not cooked properly and too many bland, tasteless dishes. Yes, we asked for dishes to be heated up but this should not have been necessary and meant that sometimes one of us was eating whilst the other one was left waiting for the dish to come back. Not a good dining experience. To give you some examples of the problems we encountered - we had cold pizza, over easy eggs that were raw inside (you could drain of the egg white and whip them up for meringues) and beef burgers raw inside. We did give feedback to the cruise and to their credit they did try to improve things for us - the chef rang us and personally checked on two occasions how things were going. However cold meals continued especially in the Terrace at lunchtime and breakfast. After a few days of disappointments we tended to eat in the GDR because we could get hot dishes there more easily. The specialty restaurants were good in the main and we enjoyed our meals there. The staffing ratio was also better. However one night in Toscana we were not served very well by the sommelier who spent most of his time at one table talking instead of serving his tables.

On two occasions at lunchtime we could not get our customary champagne because they had none chilled! One of the beers (unfortunately the one my DH preferred), ran out half way through the cruise! And no it was not because he drank them all!! We also had to keep on top of some of the sommeliers to get refills of our wine when dining.

Itinerary

The itinerary was good and unusual. There were some highlights such as the overnight in Istanbul, the visit to Kusadasi (for Ephesus), the sail down the sea fjord to Kotor and the return to the Adriatic, Dubrovnik and the sail in to Venice. It was unfortunate that 2 very large cruise ships were also in the port at Dubrovnik as this made the town too crowded. One passenger told us that they saw fights for taxis to return from the town! Another problem was at Ravenna. This is a newish port some 20 minutes away from the town. O did provide a shuttle bus service but it did not start off very well and there was a huge queue waiting nearly an hour in the heat with no shade. Two buses then turned up but at least another bus load were unable to get on and they had to wait for one of the buses to return from the town. Taxis were few and far between. We did not do any of the Oceania excursions and organised some of our own. This worked out better for us and allowed us to target those areas we wanted to visit.

Entertainment

We tend to be early risers and therefore go to bed reasonably early. The one exception to this was on leaving Istanbul. We stayed up till gone midnight to witness the sail through the Dardenelles. Definitely worth seeing. I cannot comment on the entertainment as we did not go to any of it.

Overall impressions

Overall we enjoyed the cruise but were very disappointed with the standard of the food. Quality of the food was good - but the cooking of the food and the temperature of the food was a problem for us. We discussed this with other passengers and many also had problems similar to ours. The premium drinks package seemed like a good idea and we probably broke even, but it was such a nuisance to have your card taken every time. It also took a lot of time for the staff to keep doing this instead of just serving guests - there must be a better way. We would prefer it to be inclusive. So would we go with O again? - not sure. We may if the itinerary was good, but we would need a bigger cabin and bathroom and I would have to be convinced that the food issues had been addressed. In the meantime we will return to our more favourite lines where we have not had problems before. Of course they could have deteriorated in the meantime!!

Hope this is helpful to some.

I am sure that Oceania did not plan for this disruption and as the refit did not finish on time they had no choice. Things happen. But the way around it is to communicate properly and promptly. Also the workmen should have been supervised. They were not until a member of the crew telephoned for someone senior to sort it out. As to the comment by the senior member of the staff - it was not made to lighten the situation as I was not raising anything in particular and in fact was discussing a future cruise with this individual. It was only part way into the cruise and was a totally unexpected comment. Things happened after then that have put us off considering O again for a while or if we do it will be on one of their bigger ships.

I really have to disagree with this post. The refit of the pool deck was major work. The teak deck was being ripped up and replaced and no one was allowed in that area. It was not maintenance. We had workmen all over the place and some even decided to go into Horizons and monopolise the coffee machines and take whatever pastries and biscuits were out. Our cabin overlooked the dockside midships and we had cranes going over our balcony and water at times spraying on to it. We were not warned not to be on our balcony. In addition we were only told the night before that this work was going to take place when it must have been scheduled for weeks. If we had been told before we could have planned accordingly. It was very warm in Venice that afternoon and I expect that a lot of passengers were very disappointed not to be able to have a swim. Not what we expected at all. The cruise director said it was because they did not have enough time to do it before. Not good enough - bad planning.

As to the cruise itself - it did not exceed expectations and we had major issues with the food. I will try and post a fuller review. We are also seasoned cruisers on other lines and this trip is way down at the bottom. We found lots of other passengers who had similar issues. Perhaps the best illustration was to be told by a senior member of the crew (when I said that the cruise was ok but there were some issues) that there are always issues and perfection is boring!

Just got home from the Istanbul to Venice cruise 30 June- 12 July and thought I would add to this topic. There were a lot of children. From babies to teens and every age in between. Without exception the children were all well behaved and their parents kept control of their activities. The only minor exception was a little boy who played up a little in Toscana one night. But he was tired and the family soon retired to put him to bed. It was not a problem and we even asked a group of children if there was enough to keep them occupied as there was nothing (in our opinion) to keep them entertained. How wrong we were. They were so thrilled to be there and said there was plenty to do. It all comes down to the parents and on this cruise - everything was ok with regard to our younger cruisers. The cruise itself was another matter but I may post more about that later!

Many thanks for the replies and the information. Usually call it table tennis here in the UK!! But am really happy that there is a table as I didn't see it mentioned anywhere on the Oceania website.

Tizwiz

Can anyone tell me if there is a ping pong table on the Insignia? If so, where is it located? Thanks for your help.