Interview with Ian Gibb, ORIANA's first Master

Earlier this week we were very lucky in having the opptunity in interviewing ORIANA's first Captain P&O's former Commodore Ian Gibb.
Firstly thank you very much for agreeing to share your views on ORIANA with us.

I.G: That’s quite all right; it is always a pleasure to speak about what is arguably the most elegant ship in service one I am proud to have been associated with.

Obviously as ORIANA’s first Master you joined her during a relatively early stage in the project, do you recall when it was you were first assigned as Captain designate?

I.G: Yes it was in early 1994 when P&O’s Chairman Lord Sterling spoke with me regarding his intentions to assign me as master to which I was initially surprised since I would retiring within 2 years but he insisted and I was more than pleased to accept.

P&O announces Ian Gibb's appointment as ORIANA's Captain.

When you first saw the design for the ship what was your initial impression?

I.G: I was very impressed with it, ORIANA is truly a beautiful ship she was in 1995 and still is now with these modern floating slabs which I could not command and would not want to. We of course had one of the designers (Robert Tillberg) a very polite gentleman on board CANBERRA with us for some cruises to familiarise himself the ship to see what features he could incorporate into the design of ORIANA to that end I feel he was successful as can be seen in her funnel the shape being similar to CANBERRA and from certain angles it resembles CANBERRA’s twin funnels, also this is noticeable on ORIANA’s promenade deck with the spacers between the lifeboats being inclined like CANBERRA. Because many of our past passengers would return year after year often to be on board with us it was important to give them a familiarity with CANBERRA

Did you have any influence on the design?

I.G: Of the ship itself no, that was handled by the naval architects but from experience I advised on the layout of the bridge, having been on board the 1984 built ROYAL PRINCESS whose bridge layout I cannot say I overly liked, I had advised that it was my opinion that ORIANA’s main control console should be set back from the bridge windows allowing for the officer of the watch to walk to the front of the bridge, fortunately they took note and the console was placed nearer the centre of the bridge.

P&O obviously followed ORIANA with the larger ‘sister’ AURORA in 2000 do you think she succeeded in continuing the P&O product identity?

I.G: To be honest I was disappointed with the design of AURORA it deterred too far from ORIANA having a more solid look with characteristics more common to the modern style of ships and overall a more generic look I think you cannot really call them sisters.

Along with ORIANA another ship of the modern era which is said to be a stand out ship in terms of design is of course QUEEN MARY 2 would you agree?

I.G: QM2 is definitely a unique ship being the nearest to the traditional Atlantic Liner we have these days with some excellent characteristics in fact we have a friend who is currently on board QUEEN ELIZABETH’s world cruise she contacted us recently saying that she couldn’t wait to disembark and join QM2.

OK going back to the 1990s and ORIANA did you have the opportunity to visit Meyer Werft often to see the progress of the construction often?

I.G: Well I actually lived in Germany for a time during the construction as did Hamish Reid my Chief Officer so we were on site a majority of the time, Hamish had travelled out before I did and was living with a German family and his German improved greatly, I was stayed in a hotel so mine didn’t.

Commodore Gibb and his family visit ORIANA under construction for the first time.

Of course ORIANA is considerably larger than CANBERRA did you have to undergo much training to prepare for your role on ORIANA?

I.G: Yes of course as you know CANBERRA was around 45,000 tons and ORIANA 69,000 so I did, there was a bridge simulator set up in Southampton to give the deck officers familiarity with the new systems. One piece of Technology in particular which was in its infancy at the time was the Lipstick control I remember very well that during simulations we never quite managed to dock at the simulated berth successfully, one occasion that that sticks in my mind was when I was in the simulator with Danny Robson the pilot and we ended up in Mayflower Terminal car park! When ORIANA did finally enter service the lipstick was still very sensitive with the slightest movement suddenly giving you 3000 tons of thrust it really was a case of if you pushed it as little as a 1 millimetre too far in one direction you could have ended up with a hole in the side of the ship, during the maiden season I only used it when preparing to go on anchor it was eventually fine-tuned and by the end of my time with ORIANA it was being used more frequently.

You also went over to Princess for some training didn’t you?

I did yes, I spent some time with Princess on board one of their ships, I don’t recall which, to gain experience on board a larger ship and with the newer systems there and I also went out with the pilot to QE2 in Southampton to observe her being brought in.

CANBERRA has been described as being a sluggish ship to navigate and nightmare to manoeuvre into port would you say that was accurate?

I.G: Yes that’s one way to put it; we would always say it was an ‘experience’ I have many memories bringing her into Southampton early in the morning it was due to her having only a single rudder combined with heavy winds there were a few occasions where we could have quite easily ran aground.

Of course on the QE2’s final homecoming she did run aground didn’t she?

I.G: Yes poor Ian McNaught I can imagine that he thought he wasn’t able to live it down on her last return to Southampton he must have eventually as he is now deputy Captain for Trinity house.

When the decision was made to build a new ship in the mid 80’s was CANBERRA in your opinion beginning to show her age as some say she was?

I.G: I would have to say yes she was with increasing technical problems behind the scenes we were all aware that she was flaking around the edges, when I left her in the 90s I thought it would only be a matter of time before she would be withdrawn from service in fact I spoke with Rory (Smith) (CANBERRA’s last master) and asked him how he felt bringing her in on her farewell voyage and he said relief that she didn’t fall apart on her last cruise. P&O knew it as well it was the reason they took the decision to build a new ship which was essentially a multimillion pound gamble for a stake in the future of British cruise market.

Once ORIANA had been completed and was ready to sail on her trials she first had to make the journey down from Papenburg to Emden almost like a rite of passage do you remember much of the Journey?

I.G: Yes that’s right, at that time I was the only Brit on board, the ship was under the shipyard crew while other shipyard workers were on board finishing the last stages of fitting out. During the course of the Journey we passed through a bridge which had been dismantled for our passage we also had the lifeboats lowered and they followed our progress down the river like ducklings following their mother. It was quite a sight to behold as it seemed much of the time from the moment we left Papenburg locals came out to watch ORIANA pass by I think it must have been tens of thousands people but unbeknownst to us at the time we had struck bottom momentarily during passage.

It was written in at least one Newspaper that ORIANA damaged one of her propellers during the Journey down river and that it was the cause of serve vibration in the stern during her trials.

I.G: We only discovered that the ship had grounded when we entered dry dock for a regular inspection no damage had been sustained only small area of paint had been removed. The vibration which was mentioned was actually discovered during the sea trials and occurred when the ship was at her higher speeds.

How did you feel the trials went, did ORIANA perform as expected and how did the vibration effect things?

I.G: She did yes, but the vibrations were a major problem the decibels that were being produced in the aft end were truly awful in the aft (Oriental) Restaurant crockery and cutlery was vibrating off of tables, after further trials we found the vibration was caused by the propellers at high speed and for a while it was not even certain we would accept the ship but we were assured the problem could be remedied by having the propellers replaced and in the short term by operating at slower speeds around 22 to 24 knots so we could control the situation.

Do you remember what the fastest speed ORIANA achieved during the trials?

I.G As far as I remember we achieved 27.2 knots.

ORIANA heads out on her trials.

ORIANA differed from CANBERRA by being quite proudly a cruise liner rather than an Ocean Liner how does ORIANA compare to CANBERRA in terms of sea keeping.

I.G: CANBERRA was definitely a better sea keeper due to the flare in her bow which ORIANA doesn’t but on the whole ORIANA held up fairly well, On one particular cruise over to the Caribbean we encountered 3 hurricanes on route and some very unpleasant seas but ORIANA did an excellent job, we did have to miss several calls during the cruise because of not being able to dock but we able to just about save the cruise from complete disaster by having 2 days in Madeira which pleased some of the passengers at least.

After the trials ORIANA headed down the North Sea to her home port in Southampton and eventually her naming by Her Majesty, in your opinion do you think she was impressed with the ship and do you have any many particular memories of her touring the ship?

I.G: I think she was impressed with the ship, she certainly appeared to be. There are two memories in particular I have while touring the ship, the first was while she looking round the Spa & Fitness areas she joked while observing the Exercise Machines that “we have these in the dungeon at Windsor Castle” and sometime later while touring the ships Galley the executive Purser had selected 10 or 11 members of the restaurant crew to introduce to her to and as it turned out they all had the surnames of Gomez so I was walking down the line introducing each saying “This is Mr Gomez and this is Mr Gomez and this is Mr Gomez as well”

Her Majesty the Queen tours ORIANA with Commodore Gibb.

As I understand on board for the Maiden Voyage you had your second encounter with a certain Miss St Clair after a rather interesting first cruise with her on board CANBERRA in 1992.

I.G: Oh yes Miss Whiplash! It’s a question I am often asked, I didn’t know she was booked onto the Maiden Voyage until the night before we sailed, when she boarded the next day I made a point of having a word with her to ask to refrain from her antics she promised me she would be on her best behaviour.

And was she?

I.G: Yes she was we didn’t hear a peep out of her for the whole time she was on board.

The British media portraying "Miss Whiplash's first cruise on board CANBERRA.

Obviously ORIANA visited many ports during her maiden season and almost 17 years later is still making some maiden calls did you have any memoires of making the numinous maiden calls?

I.G: The one thing I do remember is it being very tiring; with all the pleasantries alongside the normal duties being carried out on board but it was very pleasant exchanging plaques and hosting welcomes on board. The marketing department I think must have gone into overdrive coming up with ways in which we would visit new ports during the year which we had not visited in many years or the first visit ever, this was the case in a Japanese port where we arrived but no one had told the marketing department that there wasn’t enough water in the port to enter!

On another occasion while on anchor ORIANA came to rest on top of a submerged anchor which no one knew was there so several months later when we took her into dry dock we couldn’t understand why the shape of an anchor was present in her bottom!

For you were there any standout memories from the maiden season?

I.G: It was the Apex of my career so I could say the whole season but there was several, I think what will stick with me was the Maiden World Cruise; I joined part way through the cruise ready for our arrival in Sydney we also had Lord Sterling on board. When we arrived he wanted to have ORIANA in position where the entire Harbour Bridge was visible behind her at the time he wanted to have the both of us photographed on the bridge wing with the harbour bridge as a backdrop so for a time the Deputy Captain Roger Knight was at the helm.

Do you think that having seen ORIANA built up from building blocks to a finished ship gave you an insight into the ship which many of her other Captains have not and did it affect the way you commanded her?

I.G: I think it did give me an insight yes but I did not let that affect the way in which I commanded ORIANA, at the end of the day a ship is an inanimate object it is the Captain and Ships Company who create an atmosphere and on board experience. For example two ships I had served on in my early days were ARCADIA (of 1954) and IBERIA both were fairly similar ships one being built in John Brown’s and Harland & Wolff’s Belfast yard, ARCADIA was a very popular ship with both passengers and crew while IBERIA was not so popular this was down to ARCADIA’s Captain, Commodore Forrest who would do his upmost to ensure there was a pleasant on board atmosphere for all on board in comparison to IBERIA’s commander who was not so attentive.

Regarding her popularity in the British market, do you believe ORIANA will stay in P&O's fleet until the end of her career, similar to what happened with CANBERRA? Or is it possible for her to be sold or transferred to another company?

I.G: I think she will remain in P&O’s fleet for her many more years cruising it’s where she belongs.

With the cruise market rapidly growing worldwide, do you think ORIANA will be capable to attract as many passengers and keep her charming contemporary style in a near future when compared to these new massive floating cities?

I.G: Well you’re right she is both of those things; I think she will do just fine keeping her loyal passengers who want to cruise on a ship not a floating slab.

ORIANA was of course designed to appeal to the very loyal fans of CANBERRA featuring as we have said elements based on CANBERRA, what did you perceive was those passengers opinions of ORIANA?

I.G: Initially they came on board with a very negative attitude towards ORIANA in effect they came already disliking despite the fact of her being a far more luxurious ship especially in terms of cabins but I think by the time they left we had changed their opinions of ORIANA.

As you may have heard ORIANA was recently refitted in Blohm & Voss, one of the main changes was the addition of a duck tail at the stern. In your opinion, how does it affect the ship's original design?

I.G: Yes I heard (of the refit) I didn’t know they had fitted a duck tail, having not seen it I cannot really comment on that one.

How do you feel about the change of role to an adult only ship?

I.G: Disappointed really ORIANA had a lovely children’s playroom and other facilities for teens etc located well out the way at the ship’s stern, I cannot see the reason ORIANA would have been chosen to be converted as such.

Finally Commodore can you tell us of all the places you visited in your 40 year career where would you say are your favourite destination(s)

I.G: So many to choose from but 3 come to mind Vancouver, Sydney and as my wife always says to me Madeira, we have met some lovely people there several from Blandy’s shipping whom we have been a guides to whenever they visited the UK.

On behalf of both of us thank you very much for giving up your time to talk to us about ORIANA.

I.G: That’s quite alright it’s been a pleasure.

We would like to thank Commodore Gibb for taking the time to speak with us and also extend our thanks to Mike Carr and Seadogs Reunited.com