A transatlantic crossing to remember

After another successful season in Caribbean, Ocean Village commenced its transatlantic repositioning cruise on 21/04/2009 from Barbados. the first three days saw us calling at St.Lucia, Dominica and St.Maarten where we said a wonderful farewell to the beautiful Caribbean with a sail away party on top deck.

The team prepare for the British Sail Away :: Captain Ian Hutley opens the Village Fete

The theme was ‘British Sail Away’, where most of the passengers and crew enthusiastically participated in cheering and enjoying the event. As well as the local people and ports, we said our mutual goodbyes to the passengers of a Royal Caribbean Cruise liner which was docked alongside us.

After Captain Ian Hutley completed the safety checks, we were ready to set off on the six day voyage across the Atlantic to the scenic Island of Madeira. By the time we arrived in Madeira Ocean Village had covered a distance of 2632 nautical miles!

The first three sea-days brought the good weather averaging about 24C with a fresh breeze from the North East. During the day passengers were involved with the many activities provided by the Entertainment crew such as Salsa, Juggling and Trapeze work shops. We even managed to catch some live action from the English premier league football in the Oval Bar, which was not expected while crossing the Atlantic! And the fun didn't stop there. The Evenings were packed with some great tribute shows including George Michael and Elton John, hilarious antics of comedienne Mia Carla, and a chat with Will Martin ‘the youngest UK top ten classical singer’ in our ‘Up Close and Personal’ talk show. The host Paul Maffey got the nitty gritty from Will, asking all those burning questions that were on everyone’s mind and later Will Martin performed to a full house in the Marquee show lounge.

On 28th April, the fourth day at sea, Ocean Village celebrated its sixth birthday. To make this day even more memorable, the ships company held a ‘Village Fete’ with a mix of fun and games for the passengers. The event was inaugurated by the Captain cutting the ribbon to signify the start of a fun-filled day between crew and passengers with every department of the ship's company putting on a different challenge for the passengers to test their skills. In total we hosted 18 stalls for them to score as many points as possible towards the ultimate first prize of a VIP seat with the Captain to one of our 'Big Birthday Bash'. The games ranged from the Bar team’s ‘Show your Flair’ challenge to ‘Hoops in the Pool’ by Events, ‘Snake in a Bottle’ from Accommodation, and many more from other departments. We didn't realise how much passengers wanted to get their own back on the ship officers until we saw how busy the 'Throw a wet sponge at an Officer’ stall was! Officers of the ship were summoned to the stocks like villians taking their puishment, yet the true villians were soon to be known when buckets of ice water found their way over the unsuspecting heads of those in the stocks. I would say this game was a definite highlight of the crossing for many!

Captain Hutley soaks the Hotel Director!

The Hotel Director seeks his revenge...

And even more revenge...!

The whole day saw a real Carnival type atmosphere was an incredible testament to the spirit and liveliness that is Ocean Village, and for which we have become so renowned for. Ocean Village’s birthday was concluded with the 'Big Birthday Bash' party in the Marquee show lounge with all the performers putting on a show of such variety that it had the Marquee filled to the max all night. Even 1 Bar Team member made an appearance onstage to dazzle the passengers with his hidden vocal talents.

So another successful voyage blessed with good weather so far. We have yet another 1000 miles or so to sail before we reach our final port of call in Palma, Majorca and many spectacular places and entertainment still to experience on this trip. One thing we can be sure of if anything is that we will have many more good times to report!

Thanks for reading our post. What kind of events would you like to see on board?

Ghandi Raj & Kalpesh Nikam