We boarded OV2 from Palma just after midday; the boarding procedure went very quick, 2 or 3 minutes waiting in the queue.
We registered our credit card for our paying our onboard account when boarding, only to find that at the end of the cruise this information had been lost and we had to queue up and register it again.
Our cabin was ready when we arrived; we opted for a BB class cabin with a balcony on deck 11.
The room was good, lots of wardrobe space and the bathroom was quite good as well. The room decor was reasonably fresh, but you could tell from the carpets it had not been refurbished since the AIDABLU days.
The balcony was quite disappointing, not really worth the extra money. The condition was very poor, lots of rust around the edges and towards the floor. Definitely not up to standard in my opinion. However, I think on a ship like this, you DO NEED a balcony - since it is nice to have some chilled out space away from all the uncontrolled kids running around up on the deck areas.
The balcony had 2 wooden chairs, not deck chairs or sun loungers since the balcony was too small to sunbath on.
We had a few problems with the plumbing whilst on board, the toilets wouldn't flush for a while one day and one evening there was no hot water. There was also a "Costa Brava"-style smell of sewage as you walked down the corridor.
The general condition of the ship is quite good, but I would equate the facilities closer to a "cruise-ferry" than a "cruise-ship".
I say that because I have many times travelled on the overnight ferries between Norway and Denmark, and I have to say, that the facilities on board those "ferries" in many ways equals or exceeds the quality of the facilities on board OV2. And I don't make that comparison lightly, if you were to exclude the fact that OV2 has the karma spa and 2 swimming pools you could be mistaken for believing you were on the Dover-Calais.
The common facilities on board are a mixed bag. The Karma spa was very good, the Gym is free to use and we took a day pass to the facilities downstairs which were quite relaxing to use. The Gym seemed rather under-used and all of the equipment was brand new and good quality.
From a looks point of view, the interior of the ship is actually quite tacky. The carpets are the major let down here - red and yellow with "Tiger-Skin" pattern, quite nauseating. There is no grand lobby on board this ship, just a rather depressing atrium-style area featuring a few tacky shops, the nightly art auction, and special offer events. At times it felt like living in a home shopping channel TV studio. Suddenly it was "Diamonique Hour", then "Swarovski Day", etc, etc.
We found the excursions in general good, but quite over priced when compared to local alternatives.
It is worth pointing out that we took the Shopping Spree excursion in Tunisia which was ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL and was nothing like the description in the action ashore brochure. In the end we got 40 minutes (not 3 hours) to ourselves to do some shopping, the rest of the time our dodgy tour guy took us to pre-arranged "sales presentations". We were very unhappy with this, particularly with Ocean Villages dishonest description of the tour and their rude (and quite frankly embarrassing) action ashore "manager" who was screaming to us over the reception desk when we complained.
The sun deck area was very cramped, full of screaming kids and it is very difficult to find 1 sun bed, you can forget trying to find 2 sun beds together! The childrens pool was closed for at least half of the time we were on board meaning that the adult’s pool was not pleasant to be in.
We found a quieter area towards the back of the ship, but after 10 minutes or so we were covered in black soot from the ships funnel (also lots fell in my beer as well - nice!).
There are lots of places to eat on board, 2 buffet style restaurants, la Luna and of course James Martin's bistro. Would definitely recommend la Luna, small cover charge of £5 in the evening, and free pizzas at lunchtime. Small problem with the evening though - you have to book. We eat there on the first evening, but then found there was a THREE DAY WAITING LIST for tables - HOPELESS!
The buffet restaurants... well, if you like eating in British Home Stores or in Tesco's restaurant, you'll love this.
As many people have commented, these restaurants are far too small for the amount of people. This means that it is very difficult to get and table, KEEP a table, and go and serve yourself food at the same time without someone else taking your table or the waiters clearing it away in the meantime. In reality, we found that as a couple it was also impossible to have a meal together since one of us has to "keep the table" whilst the other went for food. Only water was free in to drink and only served in tiny glasses at a time. The trick was to ask the waiters for a wine glass and fill that up instead.
The food quality was very borderline, it was usually only warm, not hot. Also there were not very many healthy options and it was obvious that certain dishes were made from yesterdays leftovers. Most of the veg was overcooked with no flavour except the jacket potatoes which were almost cold and hard in the middle. There was however quite a good range of food, from curries, to English roasts. It was pretty much the same every day, so we got quite tired of it after the week.
If you want fresh food you need to pay extra and go to La Luna or the Bistro.
The entertainment is pretty basic, but I thought he comedy shows were quite good, but the singing by the ships residents was quite painful - especially when they are squealing like a cat at 3pm in the afternoon on the sun deck when all you want is some peace and quiet.
As you are probably aware the dress code is quite informal. That worked out quite well, most people dressed up a little in the evenings and if you are dining at the Bistro you are expected to be smarter than the average. Of course there were a few people wandering around looking like they are in Butlins but then again Ocean Village really is "Butlins on Sea".
We had quite a few encountered with rough Sea, the ship handled the water quite well from a stability perspective but one thing with was quite annoying was in the cabins: the ceiling was a suspected ceilings as as the boat rocked as twisted there was lots of creaking noises which kept me awake one night, but generally nothing to worry about.
There is also a Laundry on board which we used one time which was free, again no hassle in there. Just on point though, if you would like to iron anything, there are only 3 irons on board the ship, only 2 of which were working. So, if you would like to iron a shirt for the evening, don't leave it until late, otherwise you'll be queuing for sometime.
Overall, we enjoyed the holiday, although I have listed a few negative points in this review, but they should give a good idea of what to expect.
If you think of OV2 as simply a "floating-hotel" where you are visiting a new destination each day you can't go wrong, especially with some of the late minute deals. But, it you are looking for anything more sophisticated I suggest you look elsewhere.