1st June- On route to Lanzarote.
Continuing on her south western route through the Atlantic the sun rose above ORIANA at a little after 7am, although not taking much notice of the time I was enthralled at watching nature in all its majestic beauty from ORIANA’s observation deck as the first of the suns golden rays reflected on the seas surface and began shining the broken cloud that dotted the horizon.
Having checked on ORIAN’s navigational progress before arriving on deck I knew that ORIANA was currently cruising at around 22 knots and from below the sound of the waves breaking at her bow provided an excellent natural soundtrack to the visual treat unfolding before my eyes.
Leaning on the forward facing deck rail I closed my eyes briefly to savour the feeling and smell of the fresh sea air that was washing over ORIANA for everyone of ORIANA’s manmade wonders it was equally pleasant to be able to stand and watch nature at work, this being made possible by ORIANA’s design breaking with that of a modern cruise ships which seemed intent on keeping passengers from the mechanics of nature all around them.
The sea was much calmer than it had been in the Bay of Biscay and as a result on this morning there were more passengers taking advantage of her open deck space and even a few early morning swimmers had taken to the Crystal Pool before taking breakfast in either the Conservatory for the buffet or The Peninsular.
After taking a relaxing walk along the promenade deck for me it was time breakfast.
Quite by coincidence we were put on the same table as the day before and were seated where we had been the previous days next to our also with some of the same passengers alongside some passengers we had not previously met.
As the navigator’s morning announcement was being made it was noticed that a whale was swimming joyfully near the starboard side of ORIANA and was, perhaps unsurprisingly something of a point interest over breakfast, if only I had thought to bring my camera to breakfast!
While conversation was understandably focused for a short time at least on the whale's appearance before it soon moved onto other subjects.
One of passengers on the table was a former engineer from Rolls Royce Marine and was telling of some of the features of the modern cruise ship's power plant, seeing as he was obviously knowledgeable on the subject I asked him of his opinion on ORIANA's engines.
He began by assuming that because of ORIANA’s relatively high top service speed that she has four main engines for propulsion and perhaps as many axillaries running her on board services, all of which were accurate but he thought that ORIANA was quadruple screw ship instead of her two, a little out on that point but all in all very good I thought.
After these interesting and varied conversations and an excellent breakfast, all in the restaurant departed on their way ready to make the most of being of the day.
To begin with on deck there was an adult sports tournaments being held amidships in the sports court which was most likely to be attended by the most competitive of passengers.
Below decks there was the usual range of activities going on around the ship including more Line Dancing for those who hadn’t had enough of it the previous day while afterwards there was some more formal dancing for beginners from the on board dance instructors.
Line dancing returns!
In addition Chaplin’s Cinema was going to be having a busy day beginning with two port presentations from the on board Port Lecturer ,firstly for Tenerife, the most popular of the Canary Islands with British holidaymakers and then a little later for the last destination of on this cruise, the so called floating garden of the Atlantic - Madeira.
Continuing with lectures and presentations in the Theatre Royal beginning at 10 am was a cookery demonstration from ORIANA’s celebrity chef Gary Rhodes who was preparing one of his dishes from the menu of his ORIANA Rhodes restaurant.
Not surprisingly the theatre was virtually full since such an event on land with a celebrity chef would cost and here it was a part of the all-inclusive entertainment.
It was while passing from the forward staircase to the atrium on the promenade deck that Captain Reid was making his way round the deck taking the time to talk to as many passengers as he could while doing so.
Taking the opportunity to have talk he was more than willing to talk about his affinity with ORIANA having had a connection with the ships since her building living on site at Papenburg with the rest of ORIANA’s build group from P&O.
Having heard in conversation that he had been Captain of AURORA in 2005 during her “world cruise that never was” I asked him about it and was amused at his reply that when it was obvious that her engine problems were not able to fixed during the cruise he had a little ‘informal chat’ with the ship and told the control console that “your sister wouldn’t do this to me!”
Whether he did or not I don’t know but it made for a fantastic story in conversation!
While knowing that there was not much chance I took the opportunity to ask if it would be possible to have a look at ORIANA’s bridge and much to my surprise the Captain replied that I should try asking at the Reception Desk and if there was time they should be able to arrange for it.
After thanking him my next stop was to the reception desk in atrium, thankfully there were very few people at the reception desk and I was quickly seen, after a brief explanation of what the Captain had said they took note and thanked me for my interest in ORIANA’s bridge.
By now the atrium was fairly busy with passengers passing through either going to one of the shops on decks 6 and 7 or passing through to one of the ships venues either way on days at sea like this and indeed during port days when often the atrium serves as the entrance to the ship, the atrium takes on the persona of the ships central hub and it was for this reason that it was, for me at least, interesting to watch from one of its levels the scene as passengers on their way going about their own thing.
Since it was fairly nearby I took the time to grab a drink at Tiffany’s at the top of the atrium and was surprised the waiter had remembered me from a year ago, amazing since he must haves seen thousands more people and most likely moved round other members of the fleet.
For passengers who were not overly interested in Port lectures or cooking had the alternative of attending a lecture being held in The Crow’s Nest by artist Des Brophy whose subject matter varied from Humour and Landscape, the lecture was about his inspiration and also a featured a demonstration of his technique.
For those who were interested in a slightly different skill ORIANA’s on board florist was also to be found on deck 13 in the Medina Room giving a talk on various subjects on floristry as well as demonstration of the art
Elsewhere on board the elegant ambiance of Andersons was playing host to members of the spa team who were giving a lecture on metabolism and how to understand it while up in the spa area their colleagues were given a lecture on the joys of teeth whitening, undoubtedly ORIANA’s vainest passengers would be in attendance on that one.
For those who were not feeling like learning or doing anything overly active the majority of ORIANA's bars were by now open so whether the preference was for a drink in Lord's Tavern’s pub like atmosphere with either classic or modern music playing from the juke box or to enjoy some Atlantic sea air breeze with a cocktail by the pool or on the stern terraces there was that option available.
Taking the books I had acquired on the first days on board we opted Lord’s Tavern, I assume because of the other bars on board and also the activities going on throughout the ship the bar was relatively empty.
Taking a seat and being served we settled in with a classic black & white music video being displayed on the plasma screens situated throughout the bar and the accompanying instrumental piece of music which, according to the title on the screen was called Apache, playing through the room.
Having spent the remainder of the morning in the comfort of Lord’s the afternoon began in the traditional P&O way with 12 rings ORIANA’s bell and a brief description of ORIANA’s movements.
From ORIANA’s departure from La Coruna shortly after 1pm the day before ORIANA had travelled a total 481 Nautical Miles (891.381 km) at an average speed of 22.2 knots with 484 Nautical Miles (896.941 km) remaining until to ORIANA reached the port of Arrecife on Lanzarote
Weather wise the current air temperature was at 18 degrees and slightly overcast with a force 4 wind blowing to the North East.
Concluding with he finished with a brief description of the links between P&O and the region where ORIANA was currently sailing.
His speech over and the Lord’s Tavern beginning to fill with passengers ready to take part in the first of the day’s quizzes it was time for another excellent lunch in The Peninsular.
While lunch was being served in the dining venues around the ship entertainment of various was taking place, in The Crow’s Nest for music fans could enjoy a conversation and drink to the sounds of the on board cocktail pianist Karoly or alternative as mentioned above ladies and gentlemen could find out who was better with a battle of the sexes general knowledge quiz which was followed by some relaxing early afternoon tunes from the John James Trio.
For the remainder of the afternoon activities on board ORIANA continued apace in much the same way as the morning.
Continuing with the Art theme ORIANA’s art auctioneers were hosting another of their Art Auctions in the Pacific Lounge with the preview being held at 1:30pm before the auction itself an hour later.
Definitely not my sort of thing but I having got to know some of the passengers on board over the past days I didn’t doubt that some would be attending to purchase some extremely extensive and in my opinion bad taste works of ‘art’.
Being that the evenings dress code was again Formal ORIANA’s Ladies were true to form beatifying themselves in ORIANA’s spa area before moving into the Hair salon for some hair “treatment”.
I was certain that their husbands were most likely to be taking a refuge in a bar from the cost from their better halves spa treatment, but then after all they had to look good for a formal night on board ORIANA.
For those who hadn’t had enough in the morning Harlequins was again playing host to line dancing and ballroom dancing classes this time however the classes were aimed towards more experienced dancers and those who felt they had progressed from the learner classes earlier in the day.
To give a better view of a day at sea on board ORIANA below is collection of scenes filmed on board by the ship photographers during a day at sea.
As the afternoon moved on towards the evening thoughts on board ORIANA for her first sitting passengers began to shift towards the matter of dinner.
At about the same time that preparations for dinner was under way each night one of ORIANA’s entertainment officers John was hosting the evening TV ORIANA live a mixture of topical interviews, entertainment and music requests being broadcast from Chaplin’s Cinema, the show made for some excellent early evening pre-dinner entertainment.
Leaving the cabin and passing our cabin steward Hilary in corridor we exchanged a smile and a good evening before continuing towards the forward stairs and lifts.
As always on such evenings all down the accommodation corridors passengers were emerging from their cabins dressed in all their finery.
At the lifts passengers stood waiting to take the lifts down and also about to take the stairs, again with gentlemen wearing tuxedos and ladies in long evening gowns with wraps around their shoulders and small clutch bag in their hand.
Arriving at the restaurant the head waiters and restaurant manager stood in line in their formal evening wear greeting each passenger with a polite message and a smile.
Reaching our table our waiters were quickly there to pull the chairs out for us and then placing gently the napkin on our laps and handing us the evening’s menu which we read as we were joined by our table companions.
With the dinner over another night of full entertainment began firstly with a comedian beginning with a comedian in the Theatre Royal.
In Harlequins the night began with a CD dance being put on with some of the more daring of entertainments team joining in.
In the Pacific Lounge the entertainment kicked off with the guest band Natural High began the evening there off with a music for dancing from all different eras.
Performing until 10:45 the next entertainment highlight was in the form of ORIANA’s version of the game show Mr & Mrs hosted by Cruise Director Joff which revealed perhaps some slightly private moments about the contestants which went down a storm with the audience who were cracking up with laughter.
With her passengers enjoying themselves in many ways, from excellent dining to first class entertainment everything was excellent on board as ORIANA made her way towards Lanzarote.
Photo Copyrights: P&O Cruises & Steve Martin
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