The 2012 Voyage - New cruise experience

1- Departure & Day at the North Sea - 09/06 & 10/06/2012

Not everyone is extremely lucky enough to say that their child dream has come true, and I am fortunate to say that mine has indeed come true on the 9th of June 2012, in the moment when I was boarding ORIANA at the Queen Elizabeth II terminal in Southampton, ready for my first cruise ever, that would take me none other than to the stunning Norwegian Fjords.
It was truly hard to believe this image of being onboard her, that first started to take shape on that afternoon of 13th of April 1995, as 4 year old boy, when I watched ORIANA's departure after her grand maiden call in Funchal, first port of call of her maiden voyage, was actually happening and I was there in the flesh, I have never felt so lucky in my life!
On that same June morning, when I was heading off to Southampton, in the company of my good friend Steve, and fellow author of this blog, who was also boarding ORIANA later on, the excitement couldn't be higher, the journey seemed endless, as I was always looking at the clock eagger to arrive at the destination.

When we finally arrived at the Southampton docks, we first passed by the cruise ships GRAND PRINCESS and CELEBRITY ECLIPSE, berthed at the Mayflower and City terminals, and shortly after AZURA, docked at the Ocean Cruise terminal, just the opposite of Berth 44, where the big White Star Line liners used to dock in the past, like TITANIC, before the departure of her ill fated maiden voyage in 1912. As we continued along, we could see posters hanging on light posts advertising P&O's 175th Anniversary, and the big celebrations that were going to happen the following month in this port, with the highlight being of course the parade of the then 7 ships of the P&O fleet down Southampton Water.
Then the sight we were most looking forward to see... we spotted ORIANA! Facing her bow to us from the QEII terminal, it was the first time I saw her outside my bithplace Funchal, and she looked amazing, still in her full white livery and buff funnel.

As mentioned before, she was about to start a 7 night itinerary to the Norwegian Fjords, calling respectivaly at Bergen, Geiranger, Olden and Stavanger, ports/cities which I will write about with more detail in the next posts. Curiously she had arrived early on that morning from a cruise to the Atlantic Isles, so I saw her in Funchal just six days before.

Following our arrival at the QEII terminal, and after all check-in and security procedures were done, it was time for a photo near the gangway, surely a precious souvenir of this memorable moment, just before we finally made our way onboard, and there I was standing in ORIANA's fantastic Atrium, looking at its beautiful glass ceiling which changed colors from green/yellow during the day, and blue at night, and also the waterslide, that was replaced later in 2016 for a living wall.

 After we settled in, it was time to go out on deck and wait for the departure, standing in the balcony above the Crow's Nest we saw CELEBRITY ECLIPSE leaving first and passing by us on her way out of Southampton Water, GRAND PRINCESS followed and engaged in a nice horn fight with ORIANA. And then, we just had to wait for the passage of the RO/RO vehicle carrier AUTOSTAR, to begin our departure, and off we went! Thrusting from the berth with the sound of the band performing along and down at the quayside.

I will now quote the text from our cruise log compiled by at the time third-officer Mathew Tucker, for a better insight:
But before hand, let's introduce the officers that were on ORIANA's bridge in this cruise:

Captain: David Pembridge

Deputy Captain: Ashley Cook

Safety Officer: Dawid Kowalski

First Officer: Aureliano Mazzella

Second Officers: James Stewart / Brent Bolton

Third Officers: Mathew Tucker / Alex Trezins / Ian Smithson

Deck Cadets: Christopher Doyle 

Weather: Fine and dry

Wind: West with south force 2

Barometric Pressure: 1012.4 mb

Temperature: 13ºC

"During the day ORIANA lay quietly alongside the QEII terminal, starboard side to quay, embarking our passengers. Additionally, stores and oil bunkers were loaded, ready for our cruise to the Norwegian Fjords.

At 16:36, with all pre-departure checks completed, Captain Pembridge rang "standby bellow" and ORIANA was ready to sail and we began singling up our mooring lines. With all lines gone and clear at 16:50, ORIANA began to manoeuvre off the berth at the QEII berth, using her engines and thrusters. Thrusting off the berth at 16:53, ORIANA commenced coming astern at 16:56, ready to turn and head down the river. After swinging to port at 17:03, ORIANA proceeded down Southampton Water passing Dock Head and then Fawley Oil Refinery at 17:26. ORIANA then completed the famous turns, firstly rounding Calshot Spit at 17:39 to enter the Thorn Channel and then rounding Bramble Bank at 17:48, before passing Cowes and transiting the Eastern Solent between No Man's Land and Horse Sand forts. A southerly course was then set towards the Nab Tower where the pilot disembarked at 18:38 and ORIANA was full away at 18:54. Passing the Nab Tower to the north at 18:30, ORIANA set a northerly course as we headed up the coast, England to port and France to starboard, to enter the Dover straits."

As the log reports above, we were then bound to the North Sea, where we would spend the next day at sea, before the arrival at the first port of call Bergen. Later on our way to the Oriental restaurant for dinner, we went out on the Terrace decks first, astern of the ship, to admire the views, and spotted CELEBRITY ECLIPSE in the distance, as we had surpassed her since our departure from Southampton.

After a much deserved rest on the first night, the day at sea started early with a great will to explore ORIANA's public spaces, and we can tell immediatly she has nice sober areas, for example an interesting reading room: "Anderson's" and a sports pub: "Lord's Tavern", very fitting of a British marketed cruise ship, and even her own cinema theatre: "Chaplins Cinema". She has a nice and easy layout to hang around, without any concerns of getting lost like what happens in some huge floating resorts nowadays. And of course, it was also a good excuse to sit back and relax in the Crow's Nest, ORIANA's superb panoramic lounge located above the bridge, thus offering excelent views to the immense sea that surrounded us:

Weather: Overcast skies

Wind: West with north force 3

Barometric Pressure: 1011.2 mb

Temperature: 11.3ºC

"In the early hours of the morning, at around midnight, ORIANA started the transit of the Dover straits, as we continued our north easterly course to Norway, and our first port of call, Bergen. With the transit successfully completed, with little shipping to concern us, ORIANA came onto a more northerly course and by around 5 am, we were abeam of Harwich to port at a distance of around 50 nautical miles. By 8:30 am, ORIANA was fast approaching the North Sea, and the famous oil rigs, transiting past Corvette Field. At 16:17, ORIANA encountered restricted visibility. This meant that ORIANA's bridge was manned at a higher level, and that our fog signal was sounded. Since departing Southampton to midday ORIANA steamed a distance of 348 nautical miles."

As mentioned in the log, what started to be a normal overcast day at sea, deteriorated a bit in the afternoon, with the appearence of fog. From time to time, we could listen to the horn signs, in order to let others know of our position in very low visibility conditions. But no reasons of great concern, as the officers manned the ship well, so we were in good hands and getting closer and closer to Bergen.

João Abreu