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Pullmantur Cruises

s/s Oceanic

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Reviewed by:Rich Turnwald
# previous cruises:50 or more
Date of Trip: November 19, 2007
Itinerary: Mediterranean

The OCEANIC is a classic cruise liner dating from 1965, sailing for Spanish Pullmantur Cruises, which might be considered the Carnival of Spain. If you speak English exclusively, you might be a bit lost here, but if you're looking to sail on a classic steamship, with a bit of foreign culture and language diversity, this is the cruise for you.

The original elegance and indeed several public rooms from Home Lines' days were eliminated when the ship was refurbished for Premier Cruises in the mid-1980s, and that styling still appears, along with much original signage. But the ship is kept immaculately clean, and the soft materials, fabrics and carpets do not look worn. The central Casino Lounge functioned as the ship's living room during the evenings, where people congregated to talk, drink, and dance to live music. The forward Broadway Show Lounge was adequate for the shows, but the bucket-style seating reminded me of an airport terminal. Aft there is a pub-like lounge, dark and quite, which was little-used, and then the large Disco which was only used after Midnight. The open deck areas are spacious and the enclosed promenade decks seemed little used, although I appreciated them during our cold weather cruise.

Food is of course very Spanish, with a good selection and quality. There were menus printed in English for the 23 English speakers on our cruise, and they even prepared a special turkey dinner for the Americans on Thanksgiving Day, which I felt was very thoughtful. Breakfast buffets offered huge varieties of food, including the classic churros & chocolate. Lunch buffets always included a pasta buffet, gazpacho, and a paella among other offerings. A pizzeria was open only during limited afternoon hours, and from 6-8 pm tapas and snacks were available. Dinner was at 9pm on our cruise, since there was only one seating (600 people on board) but normally the dinner hours are at 8pm and 10pm.

I had an interior cabin down on B-Deck, which was adequate in size. The plumbing was a bit old-fashioned as are as cruise ships go today, and this is one of the evident poor points of an old ship. Next time, I would spend a bit more to locate a bit higher up in the vessel.

The shows of course catered to the Spanish market; since the ship's showroom is small with little room to manoeuvre on stage, the productions seemed a bit amateurish, but that is in comparison with the state-of-the-art productions of modern, large ships. Actually the OCEANIC's entertainment is a throwback to how ALL ships' shows were, 20-30 years ago.

The cruise staff, or 'animation team' were very busy around the ship with spontaneous games and activities. I've sailed on Italian ships which have the same, whimsical events taking place, and the passengers all seemed to enjoy having spontaneous fun.

The "Brisas del Mediterraneo" itinerary took us to Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, and Tunis. This is a wonderful itinerary visiting many historical and interesting places, but the pace is exhausting, with 8-10 hours tours every day. But no one wants to miss out on places like Florence, Rome, and Pompeii, so you do these things to take advantage of being there. This is not a restful type of cruise like the typical Caribbean itinerary.

The two pools on the ship are located under a Magrodome (the world's first), which is kept closed much of the time. This space serves as a venue for many evening functions as well, such as the Captain's Gala Party. Our cruise was too cold for swimming, but the pools were always kept filled.

The Spanish passengers are lively, exuberant, and fun-loving. Our cruise was only half full, with a pax-count of just over 600, making for a nice cruise. I think if you only speak English, you can get by since most of the staff speaks some English, but do study up on your Spanish before going, since it would greatly enhance the experience.