Ocean Village - 2004

Back in 2004, times were changing in the cruise market with the demand for less formal cruising.

P&O took the old Arcadia and changed it into the Ocean Village. No dress code, no set dining times and a bigger appeal to a wider market.

Personally we found it all a bit of a strange experience, but probably as we were comparing it to when we'd sailed on her as Arcadia. We couldn't fault the food, service and atmosphere.

What was not our cup of tea was the rather bizarre entertainment, which was held in the Big Top and featured a lot of circus acts and very random things going on.

On this occasion we did a 'cruise and stay' and spent our second week in Santa Ponsa, Majorca. This type of holiday has now become very popular all over the world.

We had a week after the cruise, but nowadays we have the facility with scheduled and low-cost flights to have as many days’ pre and post cruise as you wish and to tailor make exactly the right holiday for you.

An example of a couple I've done recently: New York/Las Vegas/Miami, cruise the Caribbean and Las Vegas/Los Angeles/San Francisco and Hawaii cruise. Read my other blogs to see what other ones I've done.

After a couple of seasons the Ocean Village was sent over to sail in the Australian market but I believe it's the same ship returning to the UK this year under Cruise and Maritime Voyages.