ORIANA of 1995: Cruise Experience

A last Night on Board

After a warm departure from Zeebrugge and with ORIANA heading back into the English Channel all on board were preparing for only formal night of the cruise and also the most social occasion on board the Captain’s cocktail party , we had received our invitation earlier in the day giving the venues and times of the various parties For passengers dining as we were in the Peninsular Restaurant the venue was in The Crow’s Nest while passengers dining in the Oriental Restaurant were having the party on the Promenade Deck in The Pacific Lounge.

For passengers on 1^st sitting for dinner like we were the parties were being held at 6pm giving plenty of time to enjoy the drinks on offer or as many cruise passengers do mingle and look to see what other passengers are wearing.

After preparing we took a short walk to the forward lifts passing on the way our cabin stewardess who greeted us with her usual friendly manner before continuing with her duties.

Waiting at the forward lifts along with several other well-dressed passengers it was interesting to see both ladies and gentlemen in their best clothes while behind there were several more passengers ascending and descending the forward marble backed staircase.

Taking the lift up to deck 13 we stopped at each of the decks in between before reaching our destination at the highest venue on board the ship, arriving at the same time as the other 3 lifts there was a queue at each side of The Crow’s Nest neither of which were any shorter than the other so we joined the one for the starboard side.

As we stood there the Captain made an announcement apologising for his absence from the cocktail parties due to his presence being required on the bridge due to the high volume of shipping in the immediate area and that on his and the ships company behalf wished all on board a good last night on board.

A little after 6pm the doors opened and the passengers were allowed in from where we standing at the starboard we were in the queue to have the opportunity to meet Staff Captain Wells who was standing in for the Captain in The Crow’s Nest.

Like Captain Reid he too was a small in stature with many of those he was meeting even though I hadn’t initially recognised his name meeting him I remembered having seen him on a documentary about the construction QM2 where he had been touring the unfinished ship.

He was polite and welcoming having his photograph taken with passengers before they found a free seat and not surprisingly the seats nearest the panoramic windows were taken first a view out to the North Sea was indeed an excellent backdrop for the cocktails to be drunk in front of!

Finding a seat on the starboard side fairly near the aft most windows a wait was almost instantly at our table with a selection of drinks available from his tray from Gin & Tonic and Whisky to Red & White wine and for the most expensive tastes Champagne and seeing that the drinks at the party were all inclusive there was plenty being consumed.

No sooner had I finished a glass myself then my glass had been taken and replaced by a full glass, at this rate I would be unstable on my feet by dinner I thought.

To complete the elegant feel the sound of piano music filled air and combined with the sound of chatter, laughter and sound of clinking glasses although for most of those present this was just one of many they had attended over the years for me it was a new experience and no matter how many cruises I would take in the future this was the first time I attended such an elegant event and as such will stay with me as one of my early experiences of cruising.

As tempting as it may have been to stay at the party longer there was the small matter of the Gala dinner to be held although as we left there was still many left behind drinking.

A cocktail party in full swing.

Taking the lift this time down to deck 6 and walking on through the atrium we joined by many others who were also making their way towards the Restaurant.

On the atrium staircase a young family stood together having some formal photos taken by the ships photographer, when printed a little a later in the evening it would make a fine memento of their time on board.

It was almost as soon as we arrived at the restaurant that the doors opened and the dinners were allowed in.

Walking in through the starboard double glass door entrance we were greeted by the Restaurant manager was shaking hands with all was receiving some very positive feedback.

Reaching our table we found the napkin folded in the shape of a dinner jacket and inserted into the napkin was card with a message from the Captain printed on them.

Being seated our waiters brought us the evening’s Gala menu and the decision on what to eat was so hard to decide upon.

The menu was quite complete having a starter, fish dish, soup and Sorbet before getting on to the main course. Personally for me that was too much to begin the meal with so many courses so instead opted for just the soup and sorbet, after all there was a large main course to come!

With the meal ordered Satish removed the cutlery from the table we would not be using and took the menus with our wine the table it seemed that the night’s highly anticipated meal wasn’t to disappoint , which if course it didn’t.

It was of course in some ways the meal was quite downbeat being the last of the cruise, more time on board was certainly needed!

As the meal came to its end our waiters presented us with the menus of the cruise which they had also signed and we thanked them for their attentive and truly excellent service.

A formal gathering for dinner.

As we left I took one last chance to take in the beautiful surroundings of the restaurant from its elegant crystal cut light fixtures surrounded by the mirrored panels the art deco inspired table lamps, truly beautiful.

For the last night on board there was many different activities happening on board, in the theatre there was the show of Rave on based on the songs of the legendry American singer Buddy Holly.

For fans of a different style of music in ORIANA’s elegant recital room The Curzon classical pianist Mary Bruce was performing classic romantic music from composers such as Listz and Chopin.

While in the ORIANA’s local pub Lords Tavern there was little going on for the evening instead it was taking on the atmosphere of exactly that and was offering a place to enjoy a good chat and a drink and listen to music.

With the night still being young as the saying goes our first stop was at the theatre to see the show and what a show it was!

Before the cruise had begun I had often read while researching what to expect on board a cruise that the entertainment was a little on the bad side to say the least with comedians who were not overly funny and theatre shows where the singers couldn’t sing and the dancers couldn’t dance

While this may very well be the case on board other cruise ships I could with all honesty say that on board ORIANA the entertainment was nothing short of excellent.

During this show although the music was long before my time it didn’t stop me enjoying watching as the singers and dances got down from the stage and danced in the aisles while some of the older passengers who remembered the music first hand got up from the seats and joined in!

It was equally as entertaining to see the passengers enjoying the music being performed on the stage from those who remembered the music first hand to others like me who were not familiar the style all seemed to enjoy enthusiastically.

With the show ending the members of the theatre group were lined up near the entrances to the theatre and were thanking the passengers for attending.

Due to the high standard of the performance it was only natural that the passengers were more than complimentary to the performers.

Because the second sitting for dinner was being many of the rooms were almost empty apart from the odd one or two passengers seated around.

With all shops/venues now open I took the opportunity to purchase more ORIANA memorabilia including a DVD filmed on during her 2004 world cruise showing all public areas of the ship and some areas seldom seen by her passengers and to compliment it a selection of professionally taken photos of the ship along with some more items such as a ceramic model of ORIANA.

The night also offered an opportunity which I couldn’t refuse, sitting in Andersons in its club like atmosphere dressed formally giving a look almost reminiscent of the evenings spent on the ocean liners of long ago.

Although the cruise had only been short one, hardly enough time to settle into ORIANA there was certainly something of a muted sadness on board, it seemed that in the space of a few short days ORIANA had been a great host one which it I would be sad to leave.

At 10pm aft in The Pacific Lounge ORIANA’s guest band Natural High were performing there last show of the cruise called Across the Pacific.

Having enjoyed their previous two shows we decided that it would be good a bet to go and watch them.

And we weren’t to proven wrong as they played their favourites tunes providing an excellent backing for passengers to dance the night away.

As they proved among the regular cruisers they are renowned for providing entertainment having previously worked on board ORIANA’s fleet mate OCEANA and the much remembered CANBERRA.

Their love of all styles of music certainly brought out the inner dancer of the passengers as music from the early 60’s to 80s and 90s played.

Judging by many of the passengers I was sure that they remembered the tunes from the time they had been released.

One thing was for certain in fitting with the venue when some of the older songs were new ORIANA’s namesake and CANBERRA had been crossing the Pacific on route from Australasia.

Many of songs had most probably had played from the juke boxes which had fitted to the youth areas on board, how very different to children’s and teen’s areas on board this ORIANA they must have been !

When they got to some of the songs by Queen in particular I Want to Break Free which caused in the spirit of the music video both passengers and the singer to mime the action of using a vacuum cleaner.

Finishing at around midnight with The Beatles song Hello Goodbye they did indeed wish everyone a goodnight before disappearing off stage.

It was I felt a most appropriate way to end the last evening on board listing to enjoyable and interesting music.

However before retiring one last visit to The Crow’s Nest was for me necessity.

Walking forward passing Lord’s Tavern where it seemed many animated and varied conversations were taking place.

In Harlequins the DJ Steve was beginning his late night Disco from the sound of it was popular.

Taking the Forward lifts to The Crow’s Nest the atmosphere was laid back with the John James Trio playing suitably relaxing music.

Taking a seat near the forward windows on the portside it was possible to see the distant lights of England shining in the distance from out here it looked so peaceful and quite serene in some strange way, shame I thought the same could not be said up close!

Here a few of the remain passengers had the same plan spending the last hours before retiring in the elegant surroundings of The Crow’s Nest.

After a last drink or two we too finally retired for the night putting out our remaining luggage bag out.

24^th June - Disembarkation.

After 3 days and travelling in total 389 Nautical Miles (720.888KM) ORIANA arrived back in Southampton amongst the early morning darkness, boarding her pilot at 0415 before taking continuing her journey up the Solent and into Southampton Water.

According to the log for the cruise, which was placed outside each cabin ORIANA was all fast alongside by 7am.

Waking up at about half an hour before and managing just about to get in to the early sitting for the breakfast in the Peninsular Restaurant.

Being seated on the portside we began our breakfast just as ORIANA began her swing and through the windows watched as Southampton passed by as ORIANA turned seemingly with little effort in her own length, how much more painstaking this must have been I thought to myself with ORIANA’s famous predecessors who relied at times almost entirely on the assistance of the local tugboats.

Slowly ORIANA edged closer towards the berth as her thrusters pushed her to port and as we drew closer more details became discernible the gangway retracted ready to be moved into position dock supervisors in their suits commuting using their radios to their work force and the stevedores stood in with their high visibility jackets on waiting for ORIANA to let go her ropes. All reminders if any was needed that the cruise was well and truly over.

For these last few hours on board the atmosphere was muted the sadness evident the night before had turned to glum resignation to the fact that their brief break was over.

For some however it wasn’t as quite a few were staying on board for the next cruise with this one having been merely warming them up for their two week cruise to the Norwegian fjords and how I envied them.

Returning to our cabin to collect our hand luggage the question was now where to wait to disembark.

With passenger being requested to leave their cabins by 8am this meant that ORIANA’s public rooms were now full of passengers waiting.

The atrium itself and the staircase were being kept clear to try and avoid confusion.

With all the rooms fairly full we decided to wait out on the promenade deck where there were very few others.

The disembarkation procedure was in its self very simple each cabin was give coloured cards representing disembarkation groups at certain scheduled time, when the time came after luggage had been taken off the ship the colour would be called and those passengers could disembark.

As it turned out our colour was called relatively quickly leading to us disembarking before a vast majority of those on board.

Passing through customs quickly as no officers were on duty we came to the baggage hall and finding the luggage from our deck fairly quickly located our own bags.

Emerging from the arrival exit of the terminal our transport was already waiting for us and in no time our cases were loaded into the car and we were driving away from the terminal and ORIANA.

Looking at her for as long as I could I knew that it wouldn’t be a year until we saw her again.

Within a week of leaving Southampton ORIANA was in the Norwegian Fjords and I was sat in the travel agents all ready to book once again on board ORIANA this time for Cruise X705 to the Atlantic Islands with 9 nights on board the elegant ORIANA and some beautiful destinations it was going to be great.