Oriana Mini cruise 3-5 June some initial thoughts

[trfccruiser]

Thanks again to everyone on here for their invaluable tips. Overall we enjoyed our cruise (as everyone told us it was too short)However it was not without some not so good experiences.

Checkin was a breeze and we were onboard within 30 minutes of arrival despite being behind one of several hen parties when checking in!

Overall, my wife preferred a slightly smaller ship although myself and my daughter missed some of the facilities the larger ships now offer. Her stern is fabulous though the nicest part of the ship for me.

You may remember my dilemma over booking a mini suite.I had still maintained up until we got in the room that we were in our usual inside cabin and both my wife’s and daughter’s reaction was fantastic, wandering around with incredulous looks on their faces it was lovely to have a balcony and the extras including the chocolates with Oriana on it and champers.

First negative though was that the teddy bear I had ordered for the room ( I thought if we were getting champers and chocolates it would be nice for my daughter to have a present),was not there but a gift certificate.I asked our cabin steward whose attitude was this has nothing to do with me.I asked at reception who told me to ask at the shop when it opened. The manager at the shop admitted it should have been delivered to the room. I then asked if we could have another style of bear of bear that was half price ( so my daughter could have 2 a boy and girl).At first I was told no I had to have the one I ordered but eventually common sense prevailed.

This did sum up our experience of customer service overall I have to say a bit like “computer says no”.

Had buffet lunch found choice at buffet quite limited compared to other lines.

We went for a swim on our first afternoon and I recognised Sam Kane on deck. I had to stop to let him through a small gap, and smiled and said hello. Totally blanked. Maybe he had something on his mind, but a smile or hello back wouldn’t have hurt...

Obligatory lifeboat drill stations as ever very overcrowded, shudder to think what would happen in real crisis. Sailaway on deck very nice; good atmosphere.

Polished off champers and went for first evening meal,had nice melon very good steak melt in the mouth and a lovely Kiwi Pavlova.

My 9 year old daughter couldn’t find a main she liked so I asked if we could have grilled chicken( 1 of the 3 staples I had been told about).I was told that this was not available on this cruise(if this just applies to 2 nighters it’s not really fair as pro rata these cruises aren’t cheap)

She was offered pasta with tomato sauce which wasn’t very nice I tasted it.

To be fair,the waiter then asked if i wanted to order the chicken for the next night(Question if it can be ordered with 1 day in advance why not on the day like other cruises).I said yes .later on, the wine waiter came back to ask if I wanted to order the same wine for the next night. I said that depended on the menu so he fetched the menu. I saw a chicken dish I knew my daughter liked so ordered the same wine for us and told the waiter we were fine. When we arrived the next night the dishes were totally different! It then transpired the wine waiter had brought us the lunch menu by mistake!

I pointed this out and requested the grilled chicken as the main courses were Beef Wellington and Pheasant(hardly a 9 year olds choice)

I was told this was not possible.I asked the waiter to reconsider given the mix up over menus and the head waiter was summoned. He only spoke to the waiter and again the answer was no.The waiter then gave my daughter the menu and put pressure on her to pick something. By then my daughter was embarrassed and upset. She is not a picky eater by any means, but the choices were not suitable.

This is the very first cruise she has had a problem and though only 9, she is lucky to have been on 6 cruises so far.Other lines have children’s menus in the main restaurant( I know some will say she should have eaten the children’s tea but we wanted to eat together no problem where else we have cruised).

Another way of looking at it is that I paid much more than I would for her to stay at a hotel and she ended up with no main course.

There are other aspects of the cruise we did enjoy and happy to post more later. Aware this may not be popular on this board, but I’m afraid P&O will not be something we will contemplate again any time soon .For me ,most customer facing staff we encountered were not very accommodating and some were a little surly. Staff are all important in making good experiences....

[lancashire_cruisers]

Hi Phil

 

I'm really sorry to hear of your experience on Oriana and I have to say that it isn't the usual P&O service.

 

There is no excuse for surly staff and a 'no can do' attitude and I hope that you reflected your experience in the end of cruise questionnaire. I would also write to Carol Marlow, MD of P&O, to inform her of the less than satisfactory experience you and your family had.

 

Debbie:)

[trfccruiser]

Hi Phil

 

I'm really sorry to hear of your experience on Oriana and I have to say that it isn't the usual P&O service.

 

There is no excuse for surly staff and a 'no can do' attitude and I hope that you reflected your experience in the end of cruise questionnaire. I would also write to Carol Marlow, MD of P&O, to inform her of the less than satisfactory experience you and your family had.

 

Debbie:)

Hi Debbie,thanks for your reply.There was no end of cruise questionnaire (another feature of 2 nighters?)-no cocktail party either!!- there was a formal night but no cocktail party.I know its hard to fit in the same type of experience in 2 nights but these "party cruises" are not cheap pro-rata some other lines they are cheap, but it did feel a bit like we were 2nd class citizens.Whilst there were a lot of "first timers" there were also a lot of regulars like me.:)

[Hal 500]

We were on the same cruise, also in a mini suite along with my partner's son and his fiancée who were in a balcony. We have been on a few mini cruises and I agree that you do sometimes feel that service isn't quite as good as it is on a longer cruise.

 

The price is high per day so there is no reason why the service should be any different, after all if one of the purposes of the mini cruises is to attract new cruisers it would seem to be a strange way of doing it. Having said that the service we received in our dining room was excellent and I thought the food was superb. I think its a shame if they have removed the 'always available' options from the menus and I can't see how the chef couldn't have managed to produce something plain.

 

In spite of the above comments we still enjoyed the cruise and the fact that we have 3 more booked over the next 14 months shows that for us at least the package is hitting the spot. Oriana is a lovely ship and we are looking forward to returning for the anniversary event next year. I'm sorry you were disappointed, maybe you should try a longer cruise.

[trfccruiser]

We were on the same cruise, also in a mini suite along with my partner's son and his fiancée who were in a balcony. We have been on a few mini cruises and I agree that you do sometimes feel that service isn't quite as good as it is on a longer cruise.

 

The price is high per day so there is no reason why the service should be any different, after all if one of the purposes of the mini cruises is to attract new cruisers it would seem to be a strange way of doing it. Having said that the service we received in our dining room was excellent and I thought the food was superb. I think its a shame if they have removed the 'always available' options from the menus and I can't see how the chef couldn't have managed to produce something plain.

 

In spite of the above comments we still enjoyed the cruise and the fact that we have 3 more booked over the next 14 months shows that for us at least the package is hitting the spot. Oriana is a lovely ship and we are looking forward to returning for the anniversary event next year. I'm sorry you were disappointed, maybe you should try a longer cruise.

Hi Hal 500 thanks for your reply.All of our previous cruises have been longer and we were on a 7 nighter on Oceana in 2007.However,there were some similar issues there which was why it was a while before we tried P&O again.The food was fine and my daughter though a lot younger had no problems in the restaurant.However,whilst some staff were fine we did find some of the restaurant staff surly and some very nice(we were on Freedom dining on that occasion) and the same with reception staff.Only on NCL can I say I found that same experience,on all other lines there have been no issues with staff.

On Oceana as well the cabin stank of smoke all week despite me requesting(and getting) a clean of the carpet but in reality all soft furnishings needed repalcing.I actually wrote to P&O then asking if there could be no-smoking cabins and was told that would put strain on the aircon in smoking cabins, but interestingly their smoking policy changed not long after that.

If you look at my past cruises I have cruised a good deal with P&O in the past but am not sure I will again any time soon.

[Hal 500]

Just looked at your cruise history and I can see you are a seasoned cruiser putting me to shame although I have been on the beautiful Canberra, Iberia, the original Arcadia and the Queen Mary. I forgot to mention that the cruise log isn't given on the short cruises either which is a shame for newbies, it's a nice souvenir.

[Brayman]

I forgot to mention that the cruise log isn't given on the short cruises either which is a shame for newbies, it's a nice souvenir.

 

Given that the last two days of the Cruise Log are estimates anyway it would seem a bit of a waste if they did.

[C at Sea]

I went on a 5 nighter with Cunard and we didnt have Welcome Party, Menu souvenirs or Log. Service was also weak. Dont think I'l go with them again for a long while.

P&O for us all the way, though we very much enjoyed our Princess cruise last year.

[trfccruiser]

Hi Phil

 

I'm really sorry to hear of your experience on Oriana and I have to say that it isn't the usual P&O service.

 

There is no excuse for surly staff and a 'no can do' attitude and I hope that you reflected your experience in the end of cruise questionnaire. I would also write to Carol Marlow, MD of P&O, to inform her of the less than satisfactory experience you and your family had.

 

Debbie:)

Hi Debbie,I've taken your advice and written to Carol Marlow I'll let everyone know the response...

[LibraLass41]

I just don't understand WHY P&O are down-grading their 2/3/4n cruises like this.

 

I have done a few now, as recently as March this year (2n) on Ventura and Nov 2010 on Aurora... And have seen so many cut-backs and lack of service since I started cruising and the 2n cruises i did in 2006/7/ and 08. Back then there was still a 'welcome aboard cocktail party' on night2/formal, so the atmosphere was exactly like a formal night on a longer cruise...Also we even got a 'flower for the lady' given out by the head waiter, to every lady at dinner towards the end of the meal. Thats gone now . It would be good if P&O kept these events as weekender cruises are quite often a 1st 'taster' cruise for lots of people and it would induce them to book a longer cruise. Its false economy. And Yes cost more per night than longer cruises!!

 

They seem to be rebranding them now as 'PARTY' cruises instead of weekenders, and yes, many hen and stag parties, 50th,40th birthfay groups will be onboard which can be noisy. We were in a balcony cabin and opposite us were herds of hen party young teenagers in the cheaper insides, making so much noise, with radios blaring and they even jammed their cabin doors open so they could run between cabinS, and this went on all evening and through the night when they returned, I doubt I'll ever go on a weekender again. I have also said in the past I have found the service lacking on these cruises, the staff know they will get little or no tips, and just don't want to put any effort into the short cruises. All I can say is.... please don't think a longer cruise is like this because it is totally different!

[trfccruiser]

I just don't understand WHY P&O are down-grading their 2/3/4n cruises like this.

 

I have done a few now, as recently as March this year (2n) on Ventura and Nov 2010 on Aurora... And have seen so many cut-backs and lack of service since I started cruising and the 2n cruises i did in 2006/7/ and 08. Back then there was still a 'welcome aboard cocktail party' on night2/formal, so the atmosphere was exactly like a formal night on a longer cruise...Also we even got a 'flower for the lady' given out by the head waiter, to every lady at dinner towards the end of the meal. Thats gone now . It would be good if P&O kept these events as weekender cruises are quite often a 1st 'taster' cruise for lots of people and it would induce them to book a longer cruise. Its false economy. And Yes cost more per night than longer cruises!!

 

They seem to be rebranding them now as 'PARTY' cruises instead of weekenders, and yes, many hen and stag parties, 50th,40th birthfay groups will be onboard which can be noisy. We were in a balcony cabin and opposite us were herds of hen party young teenagers in the cheaper insides, making so much noise, with radios blaring and they even jammed their cabin doors open so they could run between cabinS, and this went on all evening and through the night when they returned, I doubt I'll ever go on a weekender again. I have also said in the past I have found the service lacking on these cruises, the staff know they will get little or no tips, and just don't want to put any effort into the short cruises. All I can say is.... please don't think a longer cruise is like this because it is totally different!

Hi Libralass,thanks for your reply and "history"of 2 nighters as it was our first 2 nighter.Some lines seem to have gone down the route of the mini cruise being a taster and some the party route(and many of those price them significantly cheaper).From my experience,P&O seem to want BOTH markets but are still charging full price for a "watered down" experience.If you have a formal night on the 2nd night which lets face it does present "challenges" with luggage as you are leaving next morning,then why not a cocktail party?really didn't understand that.

Our experience was better in the sense we had no disruption from the many hen parties and 1 hen was right next door!!

I know longer stays are completely different my most recent 7 nighter on P&O wasn't that long ago and we usually do 7 nighters with all lines.There were still some issues with service on Oceana though I think freedom dining and central tipping means some wait staff will treat you well and others just cant be bothered we had good and bad experiences..

I can't see P&O just going for the cheap end of the 2 night experience, so I do believe they need to look at little details to ensure that the "non-party" passengers either first timers trying cruising out or loyal cruisers get a proper cruise experience.