Oriana

[Host Sharon]

Trying not to panic as I read these replies...first ever P&O trip begins on Tuesday on Oriana. Only travelled with Cunard before. Quite prepared for it to be different.

 

 

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Of all the fleet, Oriana is probably closest to Cunard in feel and ambience.

[Britboys]

I was last on her in October and had a great time. She is 20 years old so difficult to keep pristine. Yes, there are plumbing problems and I had to change cabins due to that but everything else about both cabins was fine. She is a classic beautifully proportioned ship and my favourite too. I do understand why she might not be to everyone's taste though.

[jeanlyon]

Agree with Andrew and looking forward to being back on board this coming September.

[crompton21]

All of us will have different opinions, that's how life works. However, if you look at the current "late deals" available there are 30 cruises reduced, of which only 1 is on Oriana.

 

I would assume that means that P&O are not having much trouble selling Oriana cruises, which is presumably a good indicator that people want to travel on the ship, perhaps more than others in the fleet.

 

Therefore, most people must like her.

Edited March 31, 2015 by crompton21

[shallwe]

A difficult one. I've only ever cruised twice, both times last year on Oriana. The reason for the second cruise was because the ship broke down on the first one so we were given another cruise as compensation.

 

Beautifully elegant even though it is showing its age in certain areas. Norovirus was prevalent on both cruises which was a cause for concern.

 

My wife has said she wouldn't go on the ship again and to be fair, the more I have reflected on the two cruises, I'm coming to the same conclusion.

 

On Britannia in December, so I get to see a totally different world.

[MS75]

Oriana is a charming and loveable ship but it's clear that it's being ruined by inactivity on the maintenance front.

 

The cabin we were in was dated with the usual scratches on the bathroom sink and bath which will be apparent on any cruise ship so we weren't that worried about that aspect of it. However one of the storage doors in the cabin didn't close properly and had fallen an inch below the pins used to hold the door in place. Whenever we closed the door we had to lift it and locate the closing pins to keep it in place. An ongoing problem apparently as the hinges inside had already been mended with black tape and a strip of wood to hold these hinges up and in place.

 

When going on-shore on our first trip I noticed a cargo door with a hefty amount of rust and which actually had a large chunk of steel missing from the top right hand side of it which raised eyebrows.

 

The outside cabin windows would be ok for the hot stuffy summer month cruises but certainly not ideal for cruising the Norwegian Fjords that we've just come from. The beds are right under the windows and the draughts were unbelievable even with the heavy curtains closed. The whole window sealant around our particular window was burst in several places and even a small hole was apparent below the metal frame and the wall which was so rotten with rust you could actually see daylight through!

 

Plumbing seemed to be an issue onboard too. Twice on our cruise water was off on certain decks for a number of hours and we overheard a maintenance man with the cover off the wall in the cabins runway tell a passenger that he is sick of having to rectify the same problem over and over again and it's been like that for a long time.

 

In fact the only maintenance we encountered on-board for the fourteen (fifteen) day cruise was from the plumbing issues mentioned above and the sanding down and a re-varnishing of the wood round the shower doorway on the pool deck, not on one but on two different days! I'd have thought they'd have paid just a little more attention to the door next to the showers which got you from the ship out onto to the deck which had two screws out of the door handle panel and meant the handle was hanging off. The screws had been laying on the inside of the ships carpet for the previous two days! The day of our embarkation the handle was still hanging off but the screws had magically disappeared!

 

Some wooden treads outside on deck had quite clearly been broken for a while and left to deteriorate some more.

 

Captain had major problems on first port stop over with getting into port as the ships side boosters weren't working as they should have been (he announced this over the tannoy system) and by reading up on previous cruises this seems to be a problem which repeats itself on a regular basis as does engine problems.

 

Cleanliness is another issue with the eating areas not being maintained and cleaned properly, but that's another matter entirely. We realise passengers are hugely responsible for the norovirus outbreaks onboard but it's no wonder the Oriana is notorious for passenger illnesses onboard when you see the state of some of the areas not being maintained and cleaned properly and hence the spreading of viruses.

 

As I said at the beginning Oriana is a charming and loveable ship but is being let down badly on the maintenance front and due to it's age it should be cared for, maintained and given that little more love just that little bit more.

Edited April 3, 2015 by MS75

[jeanlyon]

crikey, I just don't recognise this as Oriana and we were only on her last October!

[MS75]

crikey, I just don't recognise this as Oriana and we were only on her last October!

 

Just come off Oriana this past Wednesday and it's unfortunate that the ship is declining to the standards I mentioned above.

 

Even those in our company over dinner and in the bars who've been on Oriana many times before stated that it's gone downhill which is a shame.

[Scriv]

We were on her last July and love her to bits. She was in good condition and keeping very well.

[indiana123]

I was on her last year and loved her.

 

None of us. once we are able or old enough to buy our cruises, are perfect in stature but some are still beautiful :)

Edited April 4, 2015 by indiana123

[Mysticalmother]

 

None of us. once we are able or old enough to buy our cruises, are perfect in stature but some are still beautiful :)

 

Oh how true! 😄

[MawganTr]

Having just come off Oriana this morning I have to agree with the post above. As our first non-Cunard cruise we went with an open mind. There were a number of positive aspects - entertainment for one. But on the whole the ship is dated and tatty. Rust was evident and maintenance seemed lacking. Time for a revamp. Enjoyed our mini cruise but shan't be repeating it on oriana.

[mrbluesea]

Also just off her today. Dull and bland would not go back on her.

[MawganTr]

Although I enjoyed breakfast this morning in the peninsula restaurant I have to say we weren't keen on disembarkation. We did not get any information about how to leave cases etc until later on yesterday. We've cruised before so had an idea of what to expect. However, some tablemates knew nothing until we outlined the need to pack that evening. We got the impression this morning that they just wanted rid of us. To be all off by 9 is the earliest I've ever known and I felt the attitude was somewhat 'push off'. With so many people leaving all at once it did cause queues for the car park minibus.

I understand that this is. It how P&O normally handle it but that it's more in line with our experience on Cunard with coloured labels and staggered disembarkation.

 

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[PurpleMoonlight]

Passengers are reminded to leave their cases outside their cabins via the Horizon leaflet.

 

Normally there is a staggered disembarkation. I have self disembarked the last couple of cruises but I seem to remember you are instructed to go to your muster station to await your turn.

[kersh]

We have only ever been on P & O and have always hag staggered disembarkation. I wonder if because it was a short cruise so everyone took their own cases off.

Also never used a car park mini bus. We're you parked with CPS.

 

Sue

[MawganTr]

There was nothing in the horizon newspaper at all about disembarking procedures. A tannoy message came as we dressed for dinner but that's easy to miss if you're in your cabin. The only place we saw it written down was the back page of the 'Discover' magazine. It was hidden at the back and could easily be missed. My feeling is that wanted more people to self disembark. It really did feel as if they wanted rid of us. There was no staggering of times to leave.

The parking was 'Cruise Parking' (yellow & blue signage). We've never queued before with them and I'm sure it was due to most of the ship getting off in a short space of time.

 

 

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[wilson2579]

We did the self embarkation. Never been off so quickly. Left the ship at 7.15 am and had picked the car up from CPS and on the motorway by 7.30.:cool:

[tring]

We were on the previous cruise and got a leaflet about 3 days before disembarkation. The original luggage labels were used and we were not given disembarkation cards. We had previously been asked to let reception know if we had a pref for early or late disembarkation (which was basically between 9.30am and 10.00am if not on a coach transfer). We were allocated a colour for disembarkation group and they were called in an order that had not been publicised, when disembarkation took place on 1st April. A few people self disembarked at 9pm the previous night and the few who collected luggage at the terminal that night were asked to go to the gangway between 11pm and midnight. That last sentence refers to our late disembarkation of course. Disembarkation times were brought forward one hour for the 1st April as luggage was taken ashore the previous night.

 

We had been told to be out of cabins at 8am on the 31st March and the same on 1st April and to wait in public rooms. No mention of muster stations and that would certainly not have worked for us as we had the Marco restaurant as a muster station and most people had to stand for the muster because there were very few chairs.

 

Presumably being a mini cruise made a difference for you, people on our cruise had a lot of luggage so self disembarkation would only have worked for a very small number of people. Luggage could be put out at any time the day before disembarkation was due.

Edited April 5, 2015 by tring

[CHURCHCOTTAGE]

We were on the Oriana last month. This was our first cruise on P & O, all our previous cruises were with Princess or Celebrity. We will never waste our hard earned money with P & O again. It wasn't so much the ship as the appalling service on the ship. The staff in general were surly and miserable. Nothing like the staff on our other cruises. We asked for marmalade one morning with our toast and the waiter actually rolled his eyes!

Never again

[majortom10]

We were on the Oriana last month. This was our first cruise on P & O, all our previous cruises were with Princess or Celebrity. We will never waste our hard earned money with P & O again. It wasn't so much the ship as the appalling service on the ship. The staff in general were surly and miserable. Nothing like the staff on our other cruises. We asked for marmalade one morning with our toast and the waiter actually rolled his eyes!

Never again

 

I am not surprised with your experiences on Oriana we would never go on a cruise on her again whatever the cost.

Edited April 9, 2015 by majortom10

[tring]

We were on the Oriana last month. This was our first cruise on P & O, all our previous cruises were with Princess or Celebrity. We will never waste our hard earned money with P & O again. It wasn't so much the ship as the appalling service on the ship. The staff in general were surly and miserable. Nothing like the staff on our other cruises. We asked for marmalade one morning with our toast and the waiter actually rolled his eyes!

Never again

 

 

This does not surprise me at all. A number of the restaurant staff were downright rude on a number of occasions on our cruise (17th - 31st March). It is not even as though they were busy as they seemed to have plenty of time to just hang around chatting - even after norovirus was declared. The rudeness came from the restaurant manager down in the peninsular (I suspect freedom dining has something to do with that as people are unlikely to give bad reviews for specific members of staff). My husband watched one member of staff in the buffet restaurant do nothing but chat for the entire duration of our meal on one occasion and mentioned it to the person who appeared to be in charge. His reply was, 'I have senior waiters to deal with that'!!! We have also never encountered such rudeness and laziness on any cruise and we have mainly cruised with P&O in the past. Never again though.

 

I must say though that all philipino staff we encountered, (including our cabin maid), were excellent, as were the reception staff and some entertainers, especially the pianist from Tifannys. Some indian staff were good as well, but they were well overshadowed by the outrightly bad ones.

[MawganTr]

We found the staff surly. At the great British sailaway I was stood on an upper deck watching the goings on at one time I saw one waiter shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he passed some passengers. Admittedly, he'd nearly been hit by a flag but I was not impressed.

We were also surprised at the entertainment director 'Leon'. He was very enthusiastic and added atmosphere but during the sailaways, when the Captain came on the tannoy he was quite sarcastic in his reaction. After the announcement he made fun of the Captain as being boring and dull. This is very disrespectful and undermining. I've never come across this on any previous cruise.

One rule that I've read about with Cunard is that staff have to speak English in public areas. This was certainly not the case with P&O last week.

 

 

 

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[wilson2579]

The sailaway with Leon was a tongue in cheek joke about the captain which seems to have been done with other cruise directors on different ships. I wouldn't be offended or take this serious.