shallwe

My wife is a very fussy eater. She didn't have any problems with customising the starters where necessary.

Don't forget 'Toms Port Guides'. There is a very good PDF section on Cartegena in that. It can be downloaded onto your Tablet (or in my case my Nook) so that you can easily take it with you.

I am hoping that the cruise director will be Neil Oliver because he is definitely the best cruise director that we have had and made the Azura really buzz on our cruise last year.

Don't forget, by the time Britannia sails, the Cruise Directors will be re-named on all ships 'Entertainments Manager'.

Good luck with the maiden voyage whoever is on it, I reckon it should be pretty good fun, if not a little fun chaotic.

Just make sure all the teething problems are ironed out before I sail on the ship in December 2015 :D

OK the serious answer is that if there is a limit of 20kg you should stick to it.

Exactly right. Just like embarkation times, if it says 3.00pm then it must be 3.00pm, no earlier! :p

Dress codes are sexist. I frequently swim topless in the pool, as do many men - but if a woman tried it, there'd be something said. :)

Not by me there wouldn't ;)

I thought "no shorts" applied only to men? Certainly the logic is to stop men having bare legs. Obviously ladies will frequently have bare legs if they are wearing dresses or skirts; I don't see any difference in principle with shorts.

Sounds very sexist! ;)

We have not seen Beef Wellington or Fillet Steak on the menu for maybe 3 years now. Lobster yes,and can have ordinary sirloin any night.Gala night the menu is now just a bit fancier than normal.Lemon for Salmon is now wrapped in a muslin bag.!!!!! :rolleyes:

Beef Wellington definitely on Oriana in February, and very nice it was too :)

A tie isn't required. I didn't even take one with me on my cruise, let alone wear one. It's too old fashioned now, I don't even wear one to work now and haven't for a few years. I still have loads though gathering dust in the wardrobe, only wear them for weddings, christenings and funerals nowadays.

To me, as long as its a smart shirt with only one button undine at the top, then that looks pretty smart to me. Just don't show your medallion off though :-P

We parked near the train station (a little further on) in February and the taxi cost just over £6 each way. We asked for an estate car taxi because of the luggage and was told that this was the same price as an ordinary saloon taxi.

Hope that helps.

1. Taking alcohol on board. How much is 'reasonable'? Or more to the point, in P&O's eyes how much is reasonable? The onboard prices seem very reasonable, but I was just wondering how much people have taken on board successfully, or tried to take on unsuccessfully.

 

2. Dinners. Ok, 4 formal nights on a 14 nighter is more than we're used to (2 on Princess 14 nights, and Costa? Well, it's Costa!). My question is regards the menus. Do the menus show a hike in quality/ingredients on ALL the formal nights, or is there one gala dinner and the rest are as smart and casual nights?

We took on 3 bottles of red, a bottle of white and a bottle of champagne. We (actually 'I') also made good use of the bars because the prices were very favourable. We also had glasses of wine or beer at the dinner table. P & O didn't really lose out with us at all.

Menus were slightly better on the formal nights but to be honest there were so many choices available that it was to us, a near perfect menu each evening.

Enjoy your cruise, we did.

Agree with this. I used them earlier this year and have booked up for the same house driveway for October for our next cruise. 14 days for less than £50 and on a private house driveway about 5 minutes away by taxi (cost £6)

Oops, shouldn't have spoken too soon. Had an email yesterday from Parkatmyhouse saying that the owner had cancelled my parking space for my next cruise (I think they've put their house on the market.)

So a bit of looking around last came up with CPS at £152 or another Parkatmyhouse.co.uk off-road parking space (with CCTV security and not overlooked by the adjacent road but overlooked by the houses next door) at just under £60. Taking taxis into account - £72. Guess which one I've gone for?

Which means more spending money for the wife ;)

Thanks all

 

CPS booked although £65 for 4 nights parking seems steep to me.

(Put in perspective- 15 nights parking at gatwick at APH for next years carribean transatlantic on Britannia..........£71.....

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Free for me, I live next door to Gatwick and get a lift there :)

Sent from my XT890 using Forums mobile app

At Parkatmyhouse, we keep our keys.

Same as. We keep our keys. Never had a problem yet and saved myself a fortune over the years. Back in February, the price I was quoted on from various parking companies was around the £123 mark. Mine came to £60 including taxi fares. Half the price, a saving of £63, not £30 as a previous poster intimated.

We had the coloured card system on Oriana but it was a bit of a disaster. They gave us a time that we weren't happy about and changed the card very easily for an earlier card. Unfortunately because of the norovirus outbreak they then brought the time forward a couple of hours that meant that we would miss breakfast. Went to change back to the old colour card but was told not to worry, just get off when we feel like it.

Then disaster struck again, the air-bridge from the terminal to the ship broke down and the mass queue / scrum was unbelievable! There were a lot of people taking photos of it.

It was a sad ending to what was an already sad cruise. So much so, we've re-booked two more cruises ;-)

We had a 3.00pm embark time back in February. It meant that we had a leisurely morning, then an hour and a half drive drive to our Parkatmyhouse drive, get a taxi and board at about 2.45pm.

The leisure time at home was well worth it for us.

Looks like we are cruising together on Oriana in October?

Looks like we are. I'm hoping its a bit more successful than the last one!

Have you checked parkatmyhouse.com - very reasonable rates. And some of them take you to the cruise terminal.

Agree with this. I used them earlier this year and have booked up for the same house driveway for October for our next cruise. 14 days for less than £50 and on a private house driveway about 5 minutes away by taxi (cost £6)

Went for our first ever cruise earlier this year on Oriana. The cruise could have been called a disaster by some as the ship virtually broke down. It only made it to 3 of the 7 ports.

Guess what, my wife and I loved it. The food, the service, the things to do, the spa, the gym, the theatre shows, the list is endless.

We were given our money back for a future cruise and could have chesen any other ship in the P&O fleet. Guess what, we chose Oriana again and am looking massively forward to it.

Not only that, but booked up Brittania for the Caribean next year. Like all things in life, it's what you make of it. Go with an open mind, you might just enjoy it.

There's an interesting forum found here http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=586

Unfortunately I got lost with the jargon in a couple or so posts! There's a lot of crapping going on, or something like that!!!!

I took a tablet with the Kindle app on it with some downloaded books. The only problem I had was trying to read it outside was not very successful because of the glare in the screen. The good thing was that the weather wasn't particularly greatso most of the time I read in the Crows Nest bar.

It'll be an actual Kindle next time.

Fashion Police enrolment takes place just before dining amendments so it's good to be on board early. :D

Lol :D

Certainly sounds a good idea to get there earlier if you can.

My beef is with the forumites who tell me I should abide with the P&O advice concerning casual footwear and then say on the other hand to ignore the P&O advice about what time to get to the terminal!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of the repliers above said that to me, but many did on another thread. I've seen this question asked a few times now, each of which had the same similar replies.

Andersons is a bit like 'God's Waiting Room' but is still a good place for a pre dinner cocktail.

Ha ha. I was wondering how to describe Andersons without insulting people here. Your description is exactly how I would have described it but was held back through not wishing to upset people.

Brilliant, I'm surprised you haven't had the old-timers on your back!

never judge a man(or women) by their shoes until you have walked a mile in their shoes. then if you don't like them you have their shoes and are a mile away.

So said Oriana's Captain Robert Camby in one of his 'thoughts of the day'. :)

On 29th January we left on a 17 night cruise on Oriana.

The ship was very clean and in no way ''tatty''

We had a lovely outside cabin on A deck and no plumbing problems.

The food in the MDR was excellent.We didn't like the buffet so used the MDR for all lunches and dinners.

On sea days the Oriental restaurant was used as a lunch time carvery and salad bar.

If you like Italian food then try Sorrentos-well worth the £5 supplement.

In all Oriana ia a beautiful ship with fantastic aft decks.

Although we sailed on a different date and it was our first time cruise, I must be easily pleased. We had none of the problems stated i.e. plumbing, drinking water and so on, we found the ship elegant, charming and eminently enjoyable.

There were propeller shaft problems that curtailed the cruise, but that didn't stop our fast addiction to cruising and we promptly booked another 14 nighter on the same ship.