Live from the Oriana

[Britboys]

Thank you for taking the time to post these updates from my favourite P&O ship!

[PrincessPete]

The final posting (although I will do a “formal” review in a few days when I have time.)

Well, we arrived safely home on Friday after a wonderful month on “Oriana”. The odd niggle was put firmly in its place the following day with the Viking Sky incident when a different perspective was given to everything – the videos of the waves and rescue are scary to put it mildly and it is a great relief that no lives were lost.

Back to our cruise………….my last posting saw us a day before we arrived at The Azores and in lovely sunshine. The day in The Azores turned out to be the best port day of the cruise for us – we docked in Praia di Vitoria on Terceira Island. I believe most cruises that call at the Azores visit Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel so this was a new port to most passengers, including us.

We had a great day and fell in love with the beautiful island – we did a ship’s tour in the morning which went to the island’s original capital, Angra, and stopped at various viewing points on the journey. Angra was a lovely town to visit with gorgeous gardens, a cathedral and lots of shops on largely cobbled streets, plus a small Marina. We had over an hour’s free time there and the stroll round the town and coffee at an authentic Portuguese coffee shop was so enjoyable.

As soon as we returned to the ship we went straight onto the shuttle bus into town – the harbour is a couple of miles by road from the town. We had an equally enjoyable time there with a walk along the sea front and then a horse carriage ride which showed us many of the delightful back

streets of the town.

All in all a lovely stop and one that everyone we spoke to were unanimous had been a cruise highlight. We all noted how incredibly cheap everything was on the island – at the coffee shop a cappuccino, black coffee and local delicacy (essentially a lemon curd tart) was 3 Euros 50 cents and the horse carriage ride was 15 euros per person for 25 minutes.

Back onboard we had three more sea days before arriving at Southampton – the weather (overall, one of the disappointing features of the cruise despite days of sunshine in and upon leaving the Caribbean) turned, not surprisingly, colder and with little sun.

Disembarkation was rather fraught to put it mildly. Shortly after general disembarkation had started the Captain announced that it had been stopped due to “an item being found in the Terminal”. We never found out the full story but clearly it was an unexplained package which was of concern.

After about an hour disembarkation resumed and the inevitable chaos ensued when people were collecting their luggage – being such a long cruise there were so many bags and it took us ages to queue for a trolley and then even longer to get through customs (no officers were on duty).

The lines were channelling down to go through one door and many people forgot the good manners that had generally been shown onboard and started pushing into the queue. Tempers became rather frayed but nothing untoward occurred.

When we finally left the Terminal and located our taxi it took nearly an hour to get out of the port as two Dock Gates (including Dock Gate 10 where we were) were closed.

It seemed to be an age before we got home (only 50 miles from the port) but obviously many people had far longer journeys. In any event, as above, the moans at the disembarkation delays (none of which were P&O’s fault, of course) can swiftly be put into perspective by the Viking Sky incident.

 

MY CRUISE SUMMARY

As per previous postings, we had a brilliant time and the cruise did exactly what we wanted – after some ill health for my wife over the past couple of years and moving house last year (followed by 6 months of builders renovating it) we wanted a serious rest! The many sea days were therefore what appealed to us about the cruise.

Many people were disappointed with the itinerary where Freeport in the Bahamas replaced Nassau with the change only being notified a couple of days before the cruise (and some passengers were unaware of it) and then the call to Grand Turk being cancelled due to the extra day we took to get to Bermuda because of the choppy crossing.

Although we had really wanted to go to Nassau the changes did not bother us that much but I do feel P&O could have handled things very much better. To change the port in the Bahamas shortly before the cruise as P&O were told they could not refuel in Nassau seems strange as surely they would have known in advance (it wasn’t a last minute technical problem just the fact that they could not offer the service).

It is also clear that had they wanted to, another Caribbean port could easily have been added – or indeed the visit to Grand Turk maintained. We sailed so slowly between Bermuda and the Bahamas that a bit more speed (and using more fuel affecting Carnival’s bottom line!!) meant we could easily have kept to the itinerary but sadly that is not how P&O or other cruise lines work these days).

Onboard though everything was excellent – the food throughout was outstanding as was the service, particularly from our brilliant waiters Willy and Redhill. The bar staff everywhere were really good and I must not forget Lilibett our Cabin Stewardess who looked after us so perfectly.

The daytime entertainment was outstanding with so many guest speakers and lecturers as detailed previously, the highlights being Shaun Wallace and Sue Holderness, although the less famous lecturers were equally well received.

In the evening the Headliners performed some of the usual shows on their last cruise before leaving the ship to be replaced by a new group. They also performed the show “Relatively Speaking” by Alan Ayckbourn, which was well received by a packed house.

 

Musically the pianists and duos were of the usual high standard and I must mention the brilliant “Caravan” party band who had the Pacific Lounge rocking most nights!

So there we have it – an excellent cruise. I do appreciate others may have a different view based on the weather, the choppy westbound Transatlantic crossing and changes to ports but I can only report on our thoughts.

It was very sad leaving “Oriana” for the last time and although she is an old lady (with occasional plumbing difficulties, quickly resolved, and vibration) she is for us the perfect sized ship with the lovely promenade deck and lots of outdoor space.

For poster Sharon – there were lots of gym classes in the morning…..morning stretch, pathway to yoga, stretch and release, guided meditation and fab abs to name some. They were at various times between 0700 and 0900 with about three per day. Hope this helps.

Our next cruise is with Celebrity to Norway but unless we add anything else our next P&O trip is a 19 nighter on Arcadia next April when I will write a similar blog.

Goodbye in the meantime!

 

Kind regards. Peter

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by PrincessPete
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[jh1809]

Thanks. It's nice to read such a positive review.

[5682miles]

Thanks so much for your updates Peter, it’s been great reading them. Many thanks for the specific gym class info too - that’ll definitely help us with our pre cruise planning. Interesting to hear about Praia Di Vitoria too. We are docking there and also Ponta Delgada. The ship tour you did sounds delightful so I will check that out on our cruise personaliser to see if it’s available. 

Enjoy Norway on your next cruise. We love Celebrity and have recently returned from sailing across the Middle East, India and south east Asia on Constellation. We’ve also been on Millennium, Eclipse and Equinox too so if I can return the favour and assist you with any celebrity info, please feel free to ask. 

Best wishes

Sharon 

[mercury7289]

Well done Peter

 

Made good reading

 

Thank you

[PrincessPete]

This is for Sharon 5682.

Sharon, there is lots more to say about Praia Di Vitoria - I wonder if you would like to email me so I can relate it all to you.

Will also be interested to hear more about your Constellation cruise, we were on her four years ago. 

Kind regards Peter

peter.s.smith26@outlook.com

[Hols4]

Hols4

Princes Pete you mentioned the group Caravan were on Oriana and were good.They used to be in Aurora for years and we always enjoyed their music, I hope they return to Aurora after Oriana goes as we used to prefer to watch them than some of the shows in the evening.

[PrincessPete]

Indeed they were. Hughie Taylor, the Entertainment Manager, told me one evening he had "stolen" them from Aurora!!

i have rarely seen a band instantly getting so many people on their feet. I think I said in a posting that "Sweet Caroline" was so popular they had to sing it every night unless they were doing one of their "Tribute to...." shows

 

[happy v]

Thank you for all your posts.

Maybe see you next year as I believe we will be on the same cruise. Then I will be able to come home and read your reports on my holiday!😉

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, Hols4 said:

Hols4

Princes Pete you mentioned the group Caravan were on Oriana and were good.They used to be in Aurora for years and we always enjoyed their music, I hope they return to Aurora after Oriana goes as we used to prefer to watch them than some of the shows in the evening.

We hope they return to Aurora as well as the band on her in December were very poor...

Andy