Lifetime Treat on the Oriana

Advantages: A real value for money holiday of a lifetime in which you will be completely pampered
Disadvantages: Perfectly calm crossings cannot be guaranteed

...I should like to dedicate this op to all those who have not been on a cruise before or been on a P&O cruise on the Oriana. If you read this from start to finish you too could want to be spoilt for life. I hadn't cruised with P&O before this trip and it has definitely changed my understanding as to what is real value for money on a holiday. My biggest problem is in trying to be brief - I could write a book on this voyage but I will spare you that! THE REASON FOR THE CRUISE We started to plan this holiday about 18 months before setting sail and the purpose for this special treat was to celebrate our 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary. The fact that the holiday would also include our daughter's 13th birthday was an extra. Although I had been on one cruise before, a Thompson Mediterranean disaster, my wife had been on many P&O cruises...

Marchant 21.11.2001 (18.03.2002) · Read review
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Review of P & O

All Aboard The Oriana

Advantages: Luxurious. You are waited on hand and foot.
Disadvantages: Can be rocky and cause sea sickness

...In June of this year, I embarked aboard Princess Cruise's Oriana, only to feel completely at home again. It had been two years since I disembarked its luxurious surroundings to be brought back down to earth with a bang as I realized my mum wouldn't wait on me hand and foot as Raju, my waiter on the Oriana, had. A cruise is what you call a holiday. No stressful flights, delays, self-catering etc etc. You step on the ship, and everything from then on is done for you. This year, my dad had had an accident only two weeks earlier where he ruptured his akilis tendon, forcing him to be in plaster for eight weeks. We toyed with the idea of canceling, but then decided the cruise would be the best place for his temporary wheelchair, how right could we have been? Embarkation was the easiest it would ever be as a man pushed my dads...

GodsLittleAngel 16.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Princess

Pushing the boat out. Cruise aboard The Oriana.

Advantages: World Class Act
Disadvantages: Bay of Biscay

...P&O Cruise aboard The Oriana ? 11 nights. OR205 12th to 23rd May 2002 - ?Canaries Collection? Southampton Madeira Tenerife La Palma Lanzarote Lisbon Vigo Southampton O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O P&O Cruises operate some of the finest ships afloat. They are tailored very much to the British and Anglophile market. The emphasis is heavily towards understated stylish good taste rather than the glitzy Vegas razzmatazz. All the ships operate, a part of each year, from Southampton, offering Cruises of differing lengths. Alternatively you can fly out to the ships elsewhere in the world. For example, you can join a ship for just a part of its World Cruise. O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O GETTING THERE. Saturday evening, London Battersea Park 11th May. Midnight. Some 9,000 women...

CharlesYarwood 07.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of P & O

Supporting new writing

Advantages: Opportunities realised
Disadvantages: None

......

richardashdowne 22.01.2001 (19.01.2001) · Read review
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Review of Oriana Publications

P. & O. My Favourite Cruise-line

Advantages: See lots of different places without packing and unpacking
Disadvantages: Too much food if you have no willpower.

...to know almost everyone and made some good friends, who we still cruise with. For our 40th Wedding Anniversary in 2003 we booked up a cruise leaving from Southampton to America, Canada and Newfoundland and back to Southampton, with these new-found friends. This time we chose a larger ship, the Oriana. We saw some really lovely places, such as New York, Boston and Quebec. We had such a lot of fun and got on so well that we booked a further trip on the Oriana to the Carribean in 2004, sailing from Southampton and back again, visiting places such as the Azores, The Virgin Islands, St. Lucia and Madeira. (It was true younger people were choosing to go on cruises, we even had quite a few children on these two trips). We have now booked our seventh cruise, again on the Oriana but cruising round the Med to places we haven't visited...

Youngatheard60 25.01.2005 · Read review
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Review of P & O

A floating paradise

Advantages: Lots of activities, lots of bars, excellent nightlife, lots of variety, outstanding food and choices of food. The list could go on and on.
Disadvantages: A bit pricey, ships air conditioning is usually set too low.

...When I was 13 years old my parents suggested going on a cruise for their 25th Wedding Anniversary. I went along as well as my brother, and we shared a 4 berth cabin on the Oriana for 3 weeks. It was cramped, but the ship and the destinations down in the Caribbean were so fantastic you can easily forgive the small cabins. I've been on 5 cruises now on Oriana, Arcadia and Aurora, and definitely plan to go on more. P&O are a very professional company, the service is fantastic, the staff are friendly and helpful, and although the first look at a price of a cruise looks very over the top, for the service you get, it really isn't. You get free food as much as you can eat all the time, free tea and coffee, and the only thing you really have to pay for on the ship is the casino and the bars. It's pure heaven! My favourite ship so...

ViXENdw 25.11.2000 · Read review
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Review of P & O

The Food of Kings

Advantages: See Review
Disadvantages: See Review

...was not mentioned in my recent opinion - 'Lifetime Treat on the Oriana'. For those that have not read this opinion, at meal times on the Oriana there is an unwritten rule which states that if you can't make your mind up between 2 puddings, don't struggle, have both of them! Now each day for breakfast the Oriana has at least one 'Special' added to its very comprehensive menu and on the day that they added 'Kedgeree', I enjoyed it so much that when the waiter came round to collect the plates, I asked him to serve it up again! This he did without any hesitation and I cleaned the second plate just as swiftly as I did the first one! (Pure gluttony!). Now although the food on the Oriana is wonderful and their 'Kedgeree' was delicious, it's still not as good as my wife's - do try her recipe....

Marchant 15.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of Recipes for Breakfasts

That's only my idea

Advantages: I don't know
Disadvantages: I don't know

...something that could be of a great help for people, but that it had no real/scientific basis. Of course this was a process that developed itself in a lot of years, not a suddenly decision of a sturdy teenager. I do respect people that can believe in a God, and I think that they are lucky people, because having faith help people and make them stronger. I, personally, can't simply believe in something different from the human intelligence and from the scientific development, due to our intelligence. An Italian writer, Oriana Fallaci, wrote a book about the development of space achievement, and at the end of the book, looking at a space shuttle starting from Nasa she wrote: 'In that moment i saw God playing card with men... But, no! Sorry! There is no other God than men'. I completely agree with the end on that book: there is no God...

shaoli2 19.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of Do you believe in life after death?

Lord Sterling's Empire just got greedier

Advantages: Among the best holiday experiences of a lifetime!
Disadvantages: Price a prohibitive factor for many

...of two £250 000 000 liners Oriana and Aurora, and the ageing Victoria, but the entreprenuer seems to have overlooked a very significant sector of the cruise market: that of the family. By definition, a family still remains somewhere between 2.3 and 2.6 children, but the availability of cabins to suit a sensible four people has become less and less. Instead, P&O are now trying to maximise the amount of profit by selling off all cabins as two berths. A little insider information now...both Sterling's superliners have far more four berth cabins than are advertised in the brochures. Yes, that's right, so when you wanted a four berth to go on holiday with your kids and were told by your travel agent "sorry, the ship is booked up" you were sold porky pies. Hence the "massive" discounts offered by travel agants on "last remaining cabins". P...

PaulCatterall 05.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of P & O

A comparison . . .

Advantages: It's another world
Disadvantages: Waistline suffers!

...Cruises are brilliant, there is nothing like it. So far I have now been on the Aurora, the Oriana and the QE2 (yes, I know that's not a P & O ship!). All amazing but quite different in some ways. If you are planning a cruise, book early. They do 30% discount if you book just after the next years' brochure comes out. I'm going again in July and we booked last July - saving around £500 each. Another way to get the cost down is to get 4 people together and book a 4-berth cabin. No good for couples really but great for friends! The cabins look small on the website but they are not too bad actually and yet get quite a bit of wardrobe space for all those ball gowns! If you don't want to fly then you will go from Southampton. This is great as you get a 'champagne (not free alas) and streamers' departure with a brass band and everything...

GillTaylor 19.02.2004 (20.02.2004) · Read review
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Review of P & O