A new home for the Ocean Village

You may recall one of the first topic’s I ever wrote about on my cruise posts was the Ocean Village and whatever happened to the people who used to sail on her. I said at the time I loved selling her and then the Ocean Village 2 as they were my way of getting people who maybe did not think cruising was for them to try it as it was known as the cruise for people who don’t do cruises. It really was clever marketing ploy and great product in my opinion as most of the people who sailed with Ocean Village soon became hooked and have cruised several times since.

The Cruise for “People who don’t do Cruises”

I was personally really sad to see the end of the Ocean Village concept as it was an easy way to convince people who had any doubts to cruise. I still think it would appeal to a number of people which are yet to take the plunge or even people just looking for a change or just a good itinerary.

So what happened to the Ocean Village? Well she went of to Australia as P&O who owned her moved her to another part of the Family, P&O Australia. She has been over there since 2010 sailing under the name of Pacific Pearl and underwent a refurbishment in 2015. It’s a little surprising then that she has now been sold back to the UK market and purchased by Cruise and Maritime Voyages who will take ownership from 2017 and will now be called Columbus.

How the Ocean Village will look as Columbus

Columbus will be the largest ship in the fleet carrying 1400 passengers and will be the new flagship taking the mantle from Magellen which the line launched in 2015. They also have the Marco Polo which has 800 passengers, the 600 passenger Astor and the smallest ship the Astoria which holds 550 passengers. 

It will be Adult Only which is asked for more and more at the moment as a lot of the new larger ships are catering more for the family market. It will have 2 sailings next August were it will be open to everyone so any family who sailed on Ocean Village before could stay again however it will be a very different experience.

Cruise and Maritime specialise in smaller more traditional cruising so are the polar opposite of what Ocean Village was all about. It will be very interesting to see what feedback is given from people who have sailed on her under both cruise lines.

I personally cant wait to see how she looks after her latest transformation and hope to at least spend the day on board and soak up the experience and compare to how she was before.

Did you sail on Ocean Village and if so would you sail on her as Columbus? Let me know of your memories of  sailing on the cruise for people who don’t do cruises or if you would like more information on Columbus, her itineraries and what she has to offer.

You can contact me on 0330 303 8382 or email [email protected]