27th December
The last day of ORIANA’s 2009 Christmas began amongst overcast skies and the accompany it an grey and angry looking sea, ORIANA however seemed to feel little of the effects with only the slightest pitching motion to be felt.
On board the atmosphere” is what I describe as “The Last day feeling” people although determined to have a good time on board were a little muted and resigned to the fact that all too soon the cruise would be at its end and they would be returning to their everyday lives, although not all ! Some of the luckier passengers would be staying on board on her return to Atlantic Islands for New Year Cruise.
Sadly for us that wasn’t the case and when ORIANA docked the following morning we would be saying a fond goodbye to her.
However before ORIANA’s arrival there was still a whole day on board to enjoy.
Waking early to take advantage of the ship while most were still sleeping it was once again interesting to see ORIANA in a state of “rest”.
Initially there was only mainly Indian housekeepers cleaning the Stairway corridors and in the atrium cleaning the staircase,
In The Crow’s Nest the view outside of a dark sky and the crest of waves was not the most amazing one that had been seem through the floor to ceiling windows but it did make me think about the people who in the previous 14 years had sat or stood and watched the world pass by from here while traveling to some of the most spectacular destinations, all in the highest possible standards of luxury.
Although I was sure that those passengers had not had to injure the sounds of Lady Gaga, whose music was playing at a low volume from the sound system.
Stepping outside onto the Sun deck and looking down at the Rivera Pool it was quite interesting to watch the animated scene below as some of the other early rising passengers on their way aft, I assume they were on making their way to The Conservatory for the early buffet Breakfast.
Walking down to the Promenade a few more passengers had made their way out of bed and was taking their morning exercise before going to breakfast.
Despite the spray coming off the water it was refreshing and the smell of sea being quite invigorating and the perfect experience before going into breakfast.
At Breakfast the atmosphere was muted which had also been the case on the previous cruises I had been on, the quietness with only a little conversation here and there.
We had been placed for this final breakfast on a table for six and were seated with three other passengers.
One of them, an elderly gentleman was commenting on the sea conditions we had encountered during the cruise although he had missed the outward leg of the journey having had to fly out to Madeira to join ORIANA.
One of the others on the table was taking his own survey of passenger’s opinions of the cruise, from what he said many of the opinions were mixed some had enjoyed the cruise and others had not had time which they had expected.
Elsewhere in the Restaurant the faces of the other passengers told of their thoughts- they really didn’t want to go home.
Being the last of the cruise most passengers on board were intent on making it full day to enjoy as many ORIANA experiences as possible, from indulging in a final day of spa and beauty treatments, on this occasion a new treatment was on offer, or getting involved with some of the on board activities.
It was fair to say that ORIANA wasn’t going to disappoint in terms of entertainment on offer on this final last day.
“Kicking off” quite literally with Line Dancing being held in Harlequins, walking near the as the lesson started it was quite an interesting sight to see the age mix showing off their “moves” along with the typical “ye ha” being shouted out when told to by Millie one of the entertainment officers, who was teaching her class with great enthusiasm !
Much later in the late evening Millie would be retuning to Harlequins to give a show at her "Midnight Stables"
Line Dancing in Harlequins.
As had been advertised the day before the Cruise DVD, which had been filmed during the cruise and included events that had taken place on board and the ports of call visited during the cruise, would be available later in the day but for those who couldn’t wait or had chosen not to buy but wanted to watch it was showing in a “Ship’s Premier” at Chaplin’s Cinema.
At the same time up in The Crow’s Nest the last of the Arts and Crafts were being held giving the opportunity for those attending to finish off the projects which that started at the beginning of the cruise.
Nearby in the Medina ORIANA’s Digital Living presenters were holding the final part of their latest lecture “Creating Photo and Video Slideshows for DVDs”
Although on this cruise I had not attended the lectures on this cruise it seemed from those who had that it had been worthwhile in fact I had spoken with some passengers who had taken the course and the talks about photography on offer from the Ships Photographers, had persuaded him to take it up as a hobby.
Amazing how being on restful and relaxing cruise one could pick up a new passion!
On the Promenade Deck level of the Knightsbridge shop and the landing surrounding the atrium staircases all of the promotional products had been put back on display from gold chains to ORIANA Logoed T-shirts and other clothes all was there giving passengers a last chance to pick up something which they had missed during the cruise.
Just around from the clothes and Jewellery on offer the most popular of the display was the Alcohol and Cigarette “Take ashore” stall offering all branded Products tax free giving passengers quite a saving.
Further aft The Lords Tavern was the place to be for those who were interested in Geography, where a Geography themed quiz was taking place.
Outside on the promenade deck several of ORIANA’s passengers were taking advantage of the generously wide deck while enjoying midmorning exercise, the weather and the spray coming from the Bay of Biscay meant that those walking were warmly wrapped up with hands firmly planted in their pockets.
Outside the Sea and weather conditions were much the same as had been earlier in the morning with sky still being somewhat overcast with the occasional rain shower
In contrast to the other venues Anderson’s was remarkably calm, I guess that was befitting of the elegant club like surroundings, sitting enjoying a freshly made coffee and reflecting back over the past days on board this magnificent ship we had visited beautiful and very varied destinations from the flora and history of Madeira to the Beaches and Sun of Gran Canaria and of course the disappointment of Lanzarote were only some of the memories I would take away from the cruise.
If ever there was any doubt that cruising was the only way to travel in absolute luxury, which to my mind there wasn’t, ORIANA had proven that there wasn’t.
From where we were sitting it was quite interesting while watching the passengers passing by the corridor outside to see quite at random some of the younger children on board ‘bounce’ by the window on an space hopper much to the amusement of some of the other passenger in the corridor.
It was nice to see that as well as being opulent ORIANA was catering well for her younger passengers.
Of course while we enjoyed reminiscing over the events of cruise of course didn’t stop
At 11am another series of activities began starting on the Promenade Deck with a lecture by a Professor of Criminology on the subject of Young Offenders, from what I heard later it seemed that despite its strange subject matter it was very successful and informative.
Amidships in Harlequins the guest dance instructors were hosting the last of their dance classes, it had seemed over the last 8 days the enthusiastic “students” had been eagerly learning and some now had the complaint that they weren’t staying on board to learn more steps or develop their technique.
Back at Lords Tavern the first of the day’s final bingo Snowball jackpot was being held, over the entire cruise the total amount to be won in the game had grown or Snowballed until reaching the final day where however much had been accumulated would be won by one of the playing passengers.
Completing the Digital lifestyle series about computing the second lecture of day was the second of the “Computers for the Terrified” lectures with the aim to giving novices confidence using computers by explaining in simple terms all the important aspects of computing.
Although it was not a new feeling to me to be on the last day of a cruise it was none the less still a very depressing feeling to be returning home and leaving the excellent surroundings and service behind.
Sadly to me on the final day there always seems to be a reminder that it was the last day, in The Crow’s Nest during the Cruise Directors final Songs a la Carte it seemed that the songs being chosen were all songs that related to Goodbyes, departures and endings, such as Time to Say Goodbye, Hello Goodbye among others.
With the time approaching midday the ships bell rang out 12 times and the officer of the watch gave the midday announcement.
ORIANA had travelled 346 Nautical miles (641.201km) since departure from Vigo to the present time putting ORIANA well into the Bay of Biscay, which she was expected to leave within the next 2 to 3 hours, the remainder of the day and evening would be spent in the English Channel and off the coast of Southern England.
He concluded by saying that on behalf of ORIANA’s Officers and Company he hoped that all had good cruise on board and hoped all enjoyed the last day on board.
After listening to the announcement and Gary rounding up his song session it was to The Peninsular for Lunch.
At lunch we were given a seat at the window, looking through it appeared that the grey cloud was beginning to break up a little and some beams of sunlight were penetrating down creating the appearance of small pools of light on the surface of the water.
The lunch was, in keeping with the whole cruise of an excellent standard with great choice ranging from steak and chips to Indian Curries a lighter option of salad or warm French Sandwich.
Of course many of ORIANA’s passengers may decide that they didn’t want to eat what was on the menu for example if passengers request a particular diet due to health issues then a special diet can be requested.
Of course like for dinner there were other options for midday dinning, the day before we had tried the lighter options available at Tiffany’s.
Elsewhere on board there was more options which were catering for all tastes from the a Buffet lunch in The Conservatory and the day Menu in the Alfresco Pizzeria to the lunch menu of Gary Rhodes on board restaurant ORIANA Rhodes which was available for small supplement charge.
Although the options were tempting it was our view that since we had enjoyed the previous lunches in the restaurant it made sense to have the last of the cruises lunch there.
After lunch the opportunity that many passengers had been waiting for had arrived in the form of ORIANA’s Got Talent being held in the Pacific Lounge.
With music supplied by the guest performers The John James Trio this was the rehearsal/auditions round for the show which would be held some hours later.
This I thought to myself I must see!
For the afternoon there was on offer many different types of activities with from various Card tournaments such as Bridge and Whist in Crichtons and Deck games on the sun deck while in the Sports Court DJ Paul was hosting Adult Cricket which seemed to have a big turnout.
All in all it seemed that ORIANA was managing to give her passengers a relaxing and refreshing day at sea before arriving back home.
Being a day at sea the on board Photographers had arranged with the Bridge team a visit to the Bridge and a photograph in the Captain’s chairs for passengers wanted to.
As to be expected this was quite a popular tour that was on offer and places were limited.
Although I was tempted to, I had already been allowed to visit ORIANA’s bridge before and thought it would be better to allow those who hadn’t the chance to go.
Another tour being held was taken place on board was the Galley / Chocolate Buffet being held.
Entering the Galley through The Peninsular the tour walked through the various areas of the Galley, at this time everything was calm with only a little activity happening in the far area.
It was amazing to think the amount of work that takes place here during the periods of service.
Exiting out via the Oriental Restaurant, a room which I had only been in on one other occasion, it was here that the Chocolate Buffet was laid out in the centre of the room across many tables with various chocolate inspired treats from small handmade Chocolates to slices of Black Forest Gateaux, all of them looking extremely tempting, a temptation I chose not to follow and instead enjoyed only two small chocolates along with coffee.
By the time the tour/buffet had finished it was almost time to go up one deck to watch ORIANA’s talent show.
Well to say ‘talent’ was perhaps a slight overstatement, some were good that’s for sure but some were rather less than impressive while some were not even in tune still in that regard it was quite accurate to the show it was based on!
Elsewhere there was still much going on board football fans on board were enjoying yet another game being showed in the Lords Tavern, still I found it hard to believe that with a liner like ORIANA to enjoy that anyone would want to watch football, but it was I guess good that it was available for those who wanted to.
At about 4:30pm ORIANA past to Starboard Brest on the Coast of France, another reminder if any was needed that up ahead laid Southampton.
Sitting up in The Crow’s Nest and looking out it was impossible to see any land although on this occasion this wasn’t a bad thing, since the next landfall was home.
Beginning not long after was a performance called A Trio of Tunes with The John James trio performing a variety of music from different styles and decades each one performed in their own excellent style.
It served to act as a perfect pre dinner relaxation with music, views out to sea and the sun setting on the horizon not even the cloud could ruin, all washed down with a pre-dinner cocktail or two
With the time at a little after 6 pm it was time for to head down to dinner.
Being the last night of the cruise it was also the night when the waiters and stewards are presented with their tips from the passengers for giving excellent service, which there was no doubt they had given a service which I think could not be rivalled.
Leaving the cabin we were greeted by Roy the cabin steward who performing his evening duties of cleaning the cabins and “turning them down for the night”
Giving him his tip we continued down the corridor, in the atrium the Photographers were giving a last opportunity for having a professional photo taken on board.
Moving in to the restaurant we were for the last time greeted by Manoj ready to take my father to the table.
Nearby our table on one of the larger tables a Birthday was being celebrated indicated by the balloons which were above.
When the occupants arrived it was obvious that the youngest member of them was reaching his tenth birthday, young Adam it seemed was enjoying his special day on board ORIANA his delight reaching new levels when the waiter brought to his table a specially prepared Birthday Cake, surly no child could ask for a better birthday it was then completed by a Birthday song from the waiters, wine waiters and some passengers was well.
The dinner itself was wonderful as it had been for the proceeding 9 nights how much, for that time it had become a way of life almost so the thought of leaving it wasn’t great!
With dinner coming to its end we presented the tips to Salvador and Manoj and thanked them for their service and also took the opportunity to thank and tip Cherry the Wine Waitress as well as saying goodbye to some of those on other tables we had got to know of the past days.
After leaving the restaurant my parents made their way to the theatre while I collected the DVD from the photo shop before joining them to watch the final show of Lets face the music and dance.
With the last song of the show and the curtains closing we left the theatre and headed to The Crow’s Nest where the John James Trio were still performing.
Form our seat near the Starboard windows we had a good view over stage area and were able to enjoy both a drink and a good view.
The songs they were singing now were again a mix with songs such as Imagine by John Lennon and I want to Break Free by Queen.
Leaving about 11 or 11:30pm we headed to Andersons for several “last drinks” of the cruise.
The atmosphere in Anderson’s was its normal self with sound clinking glasses and conversations, some were clearly audible and were about their journeys home tomorrow while others were looking back on the events of their cruise much as we were.
Some were talking of the first time they had been to many of the ports, one gentleman remembered seeing Madeira for the first time from the deck of SS ORIANA , I guess that would have been sometimes in the 1970’s, while his wife was remembering a particularly rough crossing of the Atlantic on board CANBERRA.
While we drank and toasted to the last hours of the night and a the cruise I took few minutes to take a walk out onto the Starboard side of the promenade deck where I saw much to my displeasure the lights of Southern Coast of England sparkling brilliantly in the distance, a shame I thought from here it looks so picturesque not so when you are close up to it.
With that we headed back to the cabin, with all luggage packed and put outside the door and also a copy of the cruise log waiting we retired for the night ready for disembarking in the morning.
28th December
By the time we awoke at a little after 6am ORIANA was already secured alongside the berth.
On the dockside stevedores had already placed the gangways at ORIANA’s sides and the luggage was being taken ashore.
Southampton was much like we had left it 10 days ago frozen and dark this time however ORIANA found herself alone in port with no other ships in the surrounding area and no other cruise ships in Southampton at all.
As the first of the sun’s rays broke through the cloud as it rose life it seemed returned to Southampton.
Returning to our cabin one last time to pick up our hand luggage we went wait in Crichtons to disembark.
Since my father disabilities made leaving the ship harder by ourselves we had come to wait for assistance, and when ordered to we moved towards the exit.
Reaching Deck 4 things were slowed down by the fact that the enclosed gangway was still not working so the only way off was by steep gangways.
To help wheelchairs manoeuvre down the gangway a rope was attached to each chair and they were lowered slowly down the gangway, jokingly I said to my mother it was like lowering a lifeboat in the film Titanic.
Reaching the terminal building there was no customs officers to be seen so we went straight to the baggage hall to collect our luggage, not spending too long we located it and in no time was outside where our taxi was already waiting.
As we put our cases in the car the photographer from our home town passed by and asked us to pass on her regards to the town we smiled and said we would.
As the car pulled away my eyes were firmly on ORIANA still her flags waving in the winter breeze.
After 10 days we had returned to where we started and travelled a total of 3224 Nautical Miles (6231km).
Within hours she would sail again on her return to Madeira to see out the year in style and all too soon her Christmas cruise like 2009 itself would have faded into echo but ORIANA and her 2009 Christmas Cruise had one last surprise that I could never had imagined .
Here I finish my experience of Christmas with ORIANA and my good friend João Abreu concludes with these words:-
Some friendships begin in a very usual way, two persons meet, start talking about random stuff and if it goes on a right direction who knows?
They might become great friends. Not what happened almost two years ago, i could never imagine when i saw ORIANA returning to Madeira on New Year’s Eve after her Christmas cruise through the Canary Isles, that on the following year i would be friends with one loyal passenger and fan of the ship.
It all started when i was lucky enough to make a video of ORIANA's departure and horn salute with ARCADIA, "threatened" by the rain, on 21th December 2009. I barely knew that onboard was the CE editor and even less certain that we would later watch the video on you tube. About a year later, followed by many discussions about our favourite ship, i developed the main layout for a new blog exclusively dedicated to ORIANA, days after i had created the facebook fan page.
I introduced it to Steve, which kindly accepted my request to contribute on this new project to debut on the 1st of February.
And here we are, sharing all of our knowledge and material and eventually what we've gathered while blogging for this cause, for you, followers.
I'm definitely sure that meanwhile ORIANA navigates through the seven seas to all corners of the world, she'll connect other fans and enthusiasts worldwide, making proof that friendships can endure even overseas, all possible thanks to the alliance of the great love for shipping and the use of new technologies.
ORIANA returns to Madeira on New Year's Eve 2009, João Abreu.
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