19 years of Popularity

For almost 20 years ORIANA has taken her passengers to her various ports of call in her signature high class and style, following in the wake of her namesake and famed 'mother' CANBERRA she has visited ports all round the world from ports closer to home such as Bruges to ports of call on the far side of the world such as those in Australia and New Zealand.
And during that time much like CANBERRA before her she has gained her fans who regularly cruise on board.

ORIANA arrives in Funchal, Madeira

Much has changed since ORIANA entered service both in the cruise industry and beyond but in a sure sign that ORIANA is still as popuar in this modern age of the "mega ships", as she ever has been  she continues to receive excellent reviews from her passengers: with comments from her passengers saying that ORIANA is "the friendly cruise ship ,she was immaculate and all Staff looked well turned out" the same reviewer also saying that " We found dining in the Oriental Restaurant was excellent and the waiting staff were very efficient and courteous."
Another cruiser commented that " we had a wonderful time first class service cant wait to go again on ORIANA." while another experienced cruise went as far to say "Cruise on ORIANA, I can honestly say one of the best we have done".
All going to prove that in the age of bigger is better, with ships including all types of novel and often ridiculous features in order to gain new custom, ORIANA still has her place in the heart of British cruising offering her traditional style with great service in elegant suroundings.

Photo Copyright: João Abreu

Comparing first impressions

Continuing on from our post several weeks ago,  today we are looking at the difference in between the look of P&O Cruises New builds and ORIANA.

As announced last time we are looking in particular at the 2008 built Crown Class VENTURA and occasionally her 2010 built sister AZURA.

To begin with this week we will begin to look at the interiors of the 2 vessels, to see how the P&O style has developed since 1995.

In order to do this we will compare several different areas on board VENTURA to their ORIANA counter parts

We will begin the first of these posts by comparing the first impressions that passengers get when boarding each ship with the structure which forms the heart of each ship’s accommodation -the atrium.

For many the atrium is an important addition to a passenger ship as serves not only as a “crossroads” through the ship but also as the introduction to the ship and it’s on board style.

 On board ORIANA the atrium takes the form of a spiral shaped staircase ascending through 4 decks from decks 5 to 8 where it is topped by an elegant art deco glass themed ceiling which lends its name to the coffee bar located surrounding the top landing of the staircase the Tiffany’s coffee bar.
Behind the staircase the wall of marble mounts a waterfall which runs the full hight of the atrium.

Each level of the atrium is also named Deck 5- Garden Court, Deck 6-Queens Court, Deck 7-Royal Court and Deck 8- Tiffany Court  

The lower level of ORIANA's atrium on deck 5.

The Tiffany styled glass ceiling above the atrium staircase on deck 8 .

On board VENTURA the atrium although on a larger scale than ORIANA’s is a three deck high structure which has a staircase on either side which tier down the levels and is ‘crowned’ by a glass ceiling which is lit from above with colour changing lighting.

  View of VENTURA's atrium form deck 5.

Both offer similar services with a similar coffee themed bar Tazzine serving as an equivalent to ORIANA's Tiffany's being located at the bottom of VENTURA’s atrium a feature carried forward to newer sister ship AZURA where an almost indistinguishable venue is Java is located with the port side of the upper level of the atrium being a bar area.

Java on board VENTURA's sistership AZURA.

The overall design while attractive has changed little from its counterparts on the original Princess Crown Class ships the only real differences being in terms of décor.

At each level the atrium on both ships there is on offer a selection of the shipboard services such as shops on board ORIANA the shops are smaller “boutique” styled shops located on decks 6 & 7 respectively as can be seen the image below of the deck 7.

On board the Crown Class VENTURA there is something more akin to a shopping Centre feel around the shops with their polished floors and bright airy open plan, even being marked as “Shopping Centre” on the in cabin television map . 

 The deck 5 shop from VENTURA.

On board ORIANA the atrium is located just aft of the forward stairway and lifts being it being a matter of short walk to reach them in comparison the atriums of the Crown Class are located directly forward the midships stairway and lifts creating a small lobby area for 6 lifts two of which glass fronted offering views out over the atrium.

 A view looking down VENTURA's atrium showing the two glass lift shafts.

Photos Copyright :P&O Cruises & Steve Martin  

A look at ORIANA’s popularity

As ORIANA reaches her 17th year in service she remains a popular member of the P&O fleet, but what is it exactly that keeps ORIANA popular in this day and age of the floating apartment block with all kinds of novel on board entertainment?

Over the next few weekly posts we will take a look and see if we can come up with an answer to that question.

Firstly by taking a look at the overall layout and design of ORIANA and her public rooms we can see that ORIANA is vastly different ship to the typical modern cruise ship most of which debut for the US market ORIANA on the other hand has her roots firmly implanted in the UK market she was built to serve which is vastly different as we have discussed in other posts.

The first and most noticeable difference which is immediately evident is of course her beautiful exterior lines the likes of which have not been seen since the introduction of ORIANA and AURORA in 1995 and 2000 respectively. To the fare paying passenger especially the more experienced passenger a good sign in a ship is when it looks like a ship from the exterior in this respect ORIANA excels and from purely that point.

ORIANA’s internal design focuses on the different tendencies of the British holiday maker who prefer smaller public spaces and more of venues choice and more subtle surroundings as opposed to the American clientèle who prefer larger spaces.

Below is a comparison of ORIANA’s promenade deck with the Crown Class AZURA showing the vast difference between the two.

As can be seen from the deck plan ORIANA’s public rooms are smaller and more numerous than those on board AZURA, ORIANA also having the advantage of having the simple yet effective feature of having an interior with the public rooms coming off from it rather than the tendency of the newer ships which require passengers to pass through rooms to reach other rooms on board.

Another difference which ORIANA features compared with the newer ships relates to her décor in the design it features motifs and aspects relating to a traditional ships design giving her passengers a feeling of relationship to seafaring heritage which can be seen by the wood used in her cabins giving them a nautical feeling reminding the passengers that they are indeed on board a ship compared to the American ships which tend to replicate the feel and image of a hotel which is what the Americans passengers generally expect from a cruise liner. As can be seen below in the comparison to a Suite on board ORIANA (top) and GRAND PRINCESS (Bottom)

Beginning next week we will compare ORIANA in detail with her newer fleet mate the Crown Class VENTURA to see how the ship compares in terms of atmosphere, décor to see if we can answer the question of ORIANA's popularity.