Cruise Experience

A First Experience

From a young age I had always enjoyed seeing images of great ships to study their lines, comparing old and new ships, picking favourites from hours of looking at films and photos, even once as an eager and naïve 6 year old giving a presentation to my school class about the most famous of liners RMS TITANIC and the her demise, so intrigued was the teacher that she allowed the class to watch the film Secrets Of The TITANIC, a documentary of the vessels discovery and exploration in 1985/86.

Another name that I became aware of at that time was the oldest and most famous in the passenger shipping Industry, P&O and its veteran liner CANBERRA.

In those early years there was one name that I came across time and time again one that wasn’t even built, a highly anticipated ship which was to be given the name ORIANA.

Although at this time all that physically existed was several blocks of steel I had hopes that one day I would see this ship

Living relatively far from the coast there was little chance that I would be seeing any ships let alone ORIANA when completed in person for quite some time but I lived in hope.

June 2006- A Dream realised.

13 years later and finally my luck was to change when it became a possibility for me to take a cruise albeit as a just a taster break of 2 or 3 days.

After making some initial trips to the travel agents and sorting out several different options, of course the main requirement would be a Southampton departure, preferably a high end cruise line rather than a more budget cruise line.

With a fair idea of what was required it was time to choose which cruise.

Never an easy decision, with so many different options open to a potential passenger, eventually though the decision was made.

The name that had first came to mind was that one encountered years before ORIANA, and the cruise was number X609 -Summer Break Cruise departing on the 21^st June for 3 nights.

Finally after years of waiting my dream of cruising it seemed was becoming a reality.

After several months with the fare paid the day finally arrived and there was nothing that could contain my excitement.

Yes it was only a 3 day cruise and yes the cabin was an inside one but none of that really mattered, after all I wasn’t planning on staying in the cabin any more than was necessary.

Sadly due to work commitments my father was unable to join me on the cruise so instead it was just two of us, my mother and I.

After saying goodbye to my father as he headed off on his own Journey my thoughts turned to the days ahead and with cases packed into our friend’s car we were ready to go.

The Journey to Southampton was a fairly uneventful and as the signs indicated we were drawing nearer I wondered to myself if any of the other cars around us were also heading for Berth 106 of the Western Docks also known as the Mayflower Cruise Terminal.

Soon the seemingly endless stretches of motorway gave way to the Cityscape of Southampton for me not only interesting because of where we were heading but being in Southampton home to some of the liners to sail and also visited by many more great ones although one the first things I saw on entering the city was giant advertisement board with the image of Freddie Mercury in mini skirt and wig! An interesting introduction to such an historic City!

Driving through the city I was eagerly looking for the first sign of the ORIANA and the dock area.

As we moved through the streets I watched as the dockside cranes came into view followed by rows and rows of stacked shipping containers on the docksides.

After few moments I glimpsed for the first time ORIANA from a distance, I shall never forget the first time I saw ORIANA in with my own eyes initially it was just her funnel I could see which had a slight emission of smoke gently rising from it.

Below it the word ORIANA was proudly displayed and above the ship was dressed overall looking stunning in the late morning sunshine.

As I watched more of ORIANA became discernible her elegant lines leading forward towards the elegant sharp bow with P&O crest of the rising sun adorning it and to the stern her elegant and distinctive terrace decks that along with younger fleet mate AURORA remain unequalled in beauty and functionality.

From my initial amazement at looking at ORIANA in person for the first time it wasn’t long until we reached the terminal front and it was time to unload our luggage from the car, throughout I couldn’t stop looking up it was amazing to think that from years before and of looking at all of P&O’s promotional material since booking I already knew the ships appearance fairly well but to see her in person was a different experience completely of course in reality she looked much larger than any photograph could fully convey.

Looking at her alongside it was certain that in the respect of her exterior aesthetic she certainly could looked better than most other modern liners and I thought to myself even some of the Ocean Liners would have paled in comparison.

With our luggage deposited at the hatch at the terminal we moved with the crowed towards the departure hall.

Inside the scene was an interesting one the queue of passengers wound its way round the centre of the room we quickly joined the back of it but soon found at least another 50 or so passengers we behind us.

Looking around the room there was plenty of P&O related images, suspended from the ceiling and on another wall historic posters of P&O and other lines dating back many decades.

With Check-in not due to start for 10 minutes or so I took the opportunity to take in the surroundings.

Even though it was real and happening I could hardly believe it, having only ever left the UK mainland once before for several hours it was so hard to think that my first night spent away from the country of my birth would be on board a luxury cruise liner.

Just before check-in was due to open the check in staff appeared from the edge of the room and arrived at their desks ready to begin.

At just after midday did indeed begin and it seemed quite swiftly the queue started to move looking behind I noticed that there now must have been at least 150 to 200 people extra joined since our own arrival.

Eventually it was our turn and on reaching the desk we were greeted by the friendly check in assistant who took both our passports and tickets for processing, continuing we were asked a few more general travel questions regarding payments on board before receiving our Cruise Cards and having our Passports returned and then being shown towards the security doors which led to the security point and metal detector once there it was a relatively quick procedure of removing overcoats and metal objects from pockets being placed in treys for scanning.

Passing through we moved quickly to the departure lounge where we were given a red Embarkation card with a letter “B” on it.

Finding some free seats near the floor to ceiling windows the sight we had through the windows was impressive; ORIANA’s mighty bow looming towards the window looking down it was possible to see ORIANA’s supplies being brought out onto the dockside ready to be loaded on board.

On the nearby table the first edition of this cruise’s ORIANA Today Newspaper was laid out ready for passengers to take and read what to expect on board this first day.

The first image on the paper was of ORIANA’s Captain Hamish Reid and a list of some of her senior officers and also some of the varied activities taking place on board in the evening.

The wait in the lounge was not an overly long one but like any wait it wasn’t overly an interesting one either but most were making the best of it, enjoying the bar service on offer from the side of the room.

The wait was soon over as the Premier class (Suite and Mini Suite) passenger were the first to board followed minutes later by the Gold tier members of P&O’s loyalty scheme The Portunus Club.

After another brief wait the main embarkation firstly with those holding the embarkation “A” cards and then ours with B on them.

With more excitement building in me walked a little way out of the lounge to the escalator which took us up to the gangway, a short walk along to where a crewmember was directing passengers down a turning towards the extended gangway which led to the ship.

Walking down the gangway we again joined a queue and again we came almost to what seemed like a halt but in fact it was moving although very slowly.

Eventually we made our way to entrance to ORIANA and stepped through into the ship where one last formality was having individual photos taken by the security staff, one last formality before beginning our cruise proper!

After waiting months to board finally we were on board and were greeted by members of the ships entertainment team and some of ORIANA’s stewards.

Since there had been slight wait to board all cabins were made up and ready for passengers to occupy pleasantly one of the stewards asked if he could give us directions and after telling him C101 he directed us: forward from the atrium to the lifts up 4 decks to deck 9 and then forward on the Starboard corridor to the very end.

Following the fairly simple directions we quickly found the cabin which had its Keycard inserted, removing it and opening the door we found everything elegantly set out and ready to use.

The cabin its self was generous in terms of space, according to the descriptions of the ships cabins the same size as the standard outside cabins, the carpet was a warm and inviting pink and seemingly quite new.

I had imagined that an inside cabin might feel a little enclosed but there really wasn’t any feeling of that instead the cabin was comfortable and would be no doubt the perfect place to retire to at the end of a long day.

Next we were introduced to our Cabin Stewardess Ritchel a very happy go lucky kind of person who was enthusiastic about everything, although she did apologise if she seemed unfamiliar with the ship since she had only recently joined ORIANA from Princess due to the quick departure of another stewardess.

Making sure that we were comfortable she then ran through the main procedure for Lifeboat Muster and where the assigned muster station for this part of the ship is which as it turned out was in the club like atmosphere of Andersons.

Our cabin location on "CANBERRA Deck"

With all the formalities out of the way it was off to explore ORIANA!

Taking with us the little pocket guides of the ship which was supplied to each person.

The most obvious place to start was at the heart of ORIANA’s passenger accommodation her elegant atrium; starting here from the promenade deck level first we moved to the Theatre Royal forward to have a look at the auditorium although surely not as large as those on board larger ships to me it was certainly impressive, it was of course in darkness at this time all the only sign of movement was the image of the P&O Sun logo projected onto two screens one either side of the main stage.

Back through the atrium we visited the first of the main run of public rooms Andersons with its club like atmosphere entering through its double door main entrance we were greeted by the large portrait photograph of ORIANA’s Godmother, Her Majesty the Queen, apparently the photo had been especially commissioned to be placed on board.

The room was elegant from its rugs to marble entrance along with the large backed armchairs and elegant settees the room did take on the appearance of a turn of the century London Club which had been a popular sight on board the Liners of that era.

I could see that in the days to come that any of those on board who regarded themselves as “upper class” would be coming here for an after dinner brandy or perhaps a glass or two of champagne.

Peering around it to the adjoined room I found ORIANA’s Casino the Monte Carlo Club, thankfully it was only a small, very small one and not like so many modern ships. Not being a fan of gambling there wasn’t much for me to look at so quickly moved on.

Next on our ‘tour’ was Harlequins the largest dance floor on board, in fact the largest in the fleet with its iconic Harlequin statue waiting to welcome dancers inside. Walking through the double glass and chrome doors we were greeted by the sight of small smaller versions of the statue outside adorning the spaces behind the back most seats.

The floor which was in the centre of the room with a stage directly behind was indeed a good size and could be multi-purpose in the evening it was to be a ballroom with slow dances and waltz , while later in the night the mood would change along with the music to become sophisticated and spacious Nightclub complete with Disco.

Aft from here we found the closed Photo Gallery which I imagined would be a lot fuller later after the first photos taken at dinner would be available.

Just coming off of the Photo Gallery we found two more of ORIANA’s venues Jackpots, the Slot Machine venue and nearby the Lords Tavern.

There wasn’t much to say about the slot machines of course being in dock like the Casino the venue was closed but it seemed as though there was many to choose from.

Of more interest was the Lords Tavern ORIANA’s authentic British styled pub or as commonly known “the local”.

The theme was typically English being Cricket and was truly an authentic sports bar and as such had its walls adorned with Cricketing memorabilia and one featuring a large mural depicting a scene of from the London Cricket Ground Lords, the whole effect was completed by having a carpet designed to look like cricket pitch.

Being open there was already quite a few passengers already here and settling into their cruise by enjoying an early afternoon beer.

From here we had one more room to complete our tour of this deck and that was The Pacific Lounge, a fairly large cabaret lounge at the aft end of the deck,

The lounge had two entrances one on the Starboard side and the other on the Portside, walking a little way inside, it was like Harlequins mostly in darkness with only several of the dance floor spotlight illuminated, the room pretty much reflected its name fairly well the colour scheme was blue and orange in my mind representing a sunset or sunrise in the pacific adding to this feeling was a mural showing a beach scene showing palm trees silhouetted against a sunset.

Scenes from some of ORIANA's Public Rooms

Leaving the room and feeling a little hungry we took the lifts nearby up to Deck 12 and found ourselves in the Buffet restaurant The Conservatory. There were plenty of options here from the old British favourite of an Indian curry to sandwiches and quiche.

Not taking too much I took only a little, of few sandwiches and some French Fries and a small piece of quiche with cup of coffee.

Finding ourselves a table near the windows we had a great view out over Southampton.

Here the room was also like what its name suggested the opposite the windows the walls were designed to look like windows with the view out over some grand garden.

Nearby one table was occupied by several of ORIANA’s officers who were enjoying a moment off duty to eat their lunch.

While we sat we were joined by two travelling alone passengers, well they had been alone when they boarded but had met up since then and it turned out that they had known each other and met many years ago on a CANBERRA cruise.

It was interesting to hear their cruising stories, one had never cruise on any line but P&O whereas the other had tried several other ships including being on board QUEEN MARY 2 for her maiden cruise, however she was extremely disappointed, she had liked the ship but she felt the world’s newest and last ocean liner was in her style more Cruise ship than Cunard had claimed.

Of course being my first time on board a ship I really couldn’t comment but had already formed the opinion regardless of other people’s thoughts and feelings I liked ORIANA she was a stylish and elegant ship I now couldn’t wait for three hours’ time when ORIANA was to set sail.

Walking out onto the open deck and was greet by the excellent sight of ORIANA’s aft decks ending at the Terrace Pool and just behind the Red Ensign which was waving gently in the breeze.

While there we took the opportunity to enjoy a refreshing drink from the Terrace Bar while watching the scene of the historic city.

Heading back inside we continued our tour of ORIANA heading down to Deck 6 we first looked in the Oriental Restaurant aft although we would be dinning in the Peninsular Restaurant we wanted to have a look at both.

The Oriental with its dark wood and red colour scheme was a very rich looking room and it was beautiful with its views out over three sides I would imagine that dinner would be an elegant affair.

All the tables were set ready for dinner and were just lacking the passengers.

Because of the arrangement of the Restaurants to reach the Peninsular we had to go up one deck and then back to the midships lifts to return to Deck 6.

Upon leaving the lifts we were directly opposite The Peninsular Restaurant walking out we entered the restaurant the décor was much like Oriental with the colour being lighter and the colour and green.

From here we walked back towards atrium passing by paintings of P&O’s vintage liners.

In the atrium I took time to savour for the first time the actual the design, with its elegant sweeping staircase from deck 8 where it was crowned by the tiffany glass dome down to deck 5 where it ended at the reception desk and the marble wall behind it with the waterfall giving the relaxing sound of trickling water ending in a pool beneath the staircase.

With time advancing quickly onwards we returned to the cabin to collect our Lifejackets and then walked down to Andersons where our muster station was located.

Even though it was still some 10 or 15 minutes before the drill was due to start the room was beginning to fill quite quickly.

Most visible here was the members of the crew who were assisting with the drill they wore yellow hats with crew on the front so they were easily identifiable we had also seen then standing nearby the ships staircases as guides to direct passengers their muster stations.

We were lucky to arrive early since moments later the room was fairly full with hardly any room to sit or stand.

At around 4:45pm the ships alarms sounded 8 times in a sequence of 7 short blasts followed by one long one, this being the recognised signal to muster during an emergency situation.

After the captain made an announcement regarding the signal and then proceeded to talk through the company safety procedure.

This was followed by what seemed to be the cruising tradition of trying on the life jackets or “fetching fashion garments” as the captain described them.

Before ending the Captain apologised for the lack of a sail away band due to them being stuck in traffic in city.

To avoid both getting stuck in the crowd of passenger that would be inevitably be about to occur I returned to the cabin with the lifejackets before returning to the promenade deck.

Outside the deck was filling quickly ORIANA’s exterior promenade which was generously wide allowing many passengers the chance to stand and watch as the ship prepared to sail.

Near the doors arranged on tables the bar stewards had set up champagne for the sail away, which many were more than happy to buy to get into the feeling of the event.

It was interesting, it didn’t overly matter that the cruise was only a short one since everyone was determined to have a good time.

With only 10 minutes to departure Captain Reid gave his speech a brief description of ORIANA’s planned course and movements overnight and would give another speech when we were ready to get underway.

On the shore the stevedores slipped the ropes over bollards and they began being hauled up.

In the terminal building many spectators arrived in the observer’s area and were cheering and waving at the ship while those on ORIANA cheered back and waved as Captain Reid made his speech.

All pre departure safety checks completed ORIANA was about to depart for Rotterdam.

Moments later ORIANA’s horn blew which made the passengers more enthusiastic, the sound was a powerful and echoed in the surrounding area for me it was exciting and it seemed it was for others as well.

Slowly at first ORIANA’s thrusters began to push her of her berth firstly from the bow and then at the stern to draw her back level it was interesting to watch as the space between ORIANA’s side and the quayside slowly began to widen and the water being disturbed by ORIANA’s movement

Moving out into the channel ORIANA than began to move ahead as cars on the dockside blew their own horns and the workers there waved on and cheered to which ORIANA gave her own personal response with a long blast on her horn!

After that despite the crowed on the deck there was a feeling of calm and silence in all truthfulness the horn hard to follow through.

As terminal fell astern and ORIANA began to slowly pick up speed most stayed and watched, it was quite an interesting sight as we passed by passers-by on the shore stopped and waved while others took photographers while others it possible to make out stood with binoculars watching.

For such a well-travelled ship such as ORIANA, it was interesting to pause and think for a while, this ship has graced so many ports of the world and there too she must have been photographed, I wondered who those people where old or young enthusiasts or just the casual observer who noticed a ship in the harbour.

And as they watched did the ship encourage in them perhaps the possibility of one day travelling on board a cruise, who knows?

While stood staring out in thought I almost lost track of time, caught up in the excitement, the time as always was relentlessly moving on and our first dinner on board was nearing.

Returning to the cabin to freshen and smarting up for dinner it was a relief to know that the first meal would only be smart casual dress code with smart trousers and an opened neck shirt.

All ready we left the cabin and spoke to Ritchel who was nearby working who wished us a good evening.

Reaching the stairway and forward lifts we took the lift down three decks to Deck 6 and with a brisk walk through the atrium found ourselves once again at the Peninsular Restaurant.

Since early everything was little more relaxed as passengers were more settled in on board and calmer too with unpacking completed.

At exactly 6:30 the Restaurant Manager and headwaiters opened the doors marking the start to dinner.

Inside at both doors all the waiters were lined up ready to escort passenger to their seats, ours was near the centre of the room on the Portside.

No sooner had we been seated than our waiters introduced themselves they were Satish and assisting him Suvin who after a brief introductions gave us the menus and moved on to the next table.

No sooner had we had time to think over the options available than we were introduced our wine waiter Rocky who was more than willing to assist in selecting the right drink for the right menu his knowledge being extremely good, we decided on a bottle of white wine and soon after Satish returned to take the order.

When it was ready and brought to us it was truly amazing like no other meal I had eaten before, it was like dining in her highest class restaurant possible with even the napkin being placed on your lap for you, it was beyond words.

The attention to detail in the preparation of the food and indeed the service was excellent and without fault, on first impressions and experiences ORIANA had already passed in book.

As we dined ORIANA made her way between the mainland and the Isle of White which was to our starboard side and many passengers had the pleasure of watching yachts coming and going in the harbour as the dined.

And so the first dinner on board came to an end truly an excellent experience and not one to be hurried but to be savoured.

So what was there to do in the evening, a lot as it turned out and we made our way for the first time to The Crow’s Nest ORIANA’s lookout bar a truly beautiful and very traditional room the views were unequalled from here and I instantly liked its atmosphere which was added to by the guest performers The John James Trio performing.

It was the perfect place I thought to stay and stay I could have easily all night although I think we spent only an hour and a half there maximum.

Moving back down to the promenade it had come into its own with different things happening in the various venues we had explored earlier this time the balloons outside The Pacific Lounge attracted us to go inside where the guest band Natural High were getting ready to perform.

Inside there was a few other people sat around chatting and drinking, soon we greeted by a friendly waiter who asked what would we like to drink.

So many options! To choose from we really didn’t know what to say so thought that an Chocolate Banana sounded interesting.

The waiter predicted that the venue would fill fairly quickly and he was right from only a few people there was in the space of half an hour most of the seats full.

Here it was 60’s and 70’s night and as it began we settled down to enjoy the night here.

As could be expected from such a themed party there was music, laughter and some strange dancing !

Leaving some hours later our cabin beckoned as our first night on board came to an end, tomorrow Rotterdam awaited.

Photos Copyright:P&O.