Oriana X507 - the rest of the tale

[MicheleW]

GUERNSEY
Awoke in the morning to a bit of a swell but noticed that we were just off of Guernsey. Hurried down to reception with my hotel receipts and saw a lovely lady from the shore team who took copies of both my hotel bills - I had asked the hotel for a separate bill for the drinks – but I was told I could get these paid for as well! She asked if we wanted the amount as OBC, but having already got £25.00 each plus the extra £30.00 each and Mum giving us some, I declined and she said I would receive a cheque in 14-21 days. When I mentioned that I was glad that we were able to get to Guernsey, she admitted that she was too as she reckoned there would have been a mutiny if we hadn’t!!
Had breakfast in the Oriental restaurant where the talk was obviously about everyone’s experiences the previous day. People who had arrived at the terminal after the decision was made to delay the cruise, where then asked to go to the Grand Harbour Hotel where P&O had set up their “crisis headquarters”. From here they had to find accommodation for approximately 1500 people and some people fared a lot better than others, but overall, everyone we spoke to were very happy with what P&O had done. Also under discussion, was the rather large dent down the side of the ship, which had apparently happened during the attempt to dock on Tuesday morning.

After breakfast we headed down to get the tender to Guernsey. A bit of a swell caused a few problems getting on board but we were soon ashore and had a pleasant morning exploring some very nice gardens with lovely views across the harbour and towards Herm (though the weather wasn’t the best for admiring the view), and the hose where Victor Hugo lived. The trip back was a bit more bouncy than on the way out and we arrived at the pontoon with quite a bang – literally. So much so that one poor lady fell off her seat onto the floor! She was fine but decided to stay put until we had actually got tied up alongside and were a bit more stable – which actually took quite a while!! We dropped our stuff in the cabin and just made it in time for lunch in the Oriental restaurant and then spent a lazy afternoon in the cabin relaxing prior to the Black Tie evening. Our canapés were delivered at about 5.00pm and an announcement was made that we would be travelling fairly quickly up to Zeebrugge in an effort to get there for 9.00am, but that luckily there would be a tail wind! The captain also mentioned that they would be putting on gala parties for the evening, in the Crows Nest for Freedom dining passengers and in the Pacific Lounge for Club dining passengers and the drinks were on him!

Decided to try out the whirlpool bath but think I put too much bath gel in as when I hit the button the bathroom was somewhat overrun by bubbles!! Good fun though. Then dolled up in our finery, we hit the shops (got to spend all this OBC somehow) before drinks in Andersons (sure we will spend plenty in here) and then more drinks, compliments of the captain before dinner in the Oriental restaurant, where we had table for 2 at the second sitting. Had a lovely meal including cheese and biscuits and a glass of port each (bit more of the OBC spent) and then I headed off to make my first contribution to the Casino. It soon appeared that it wasn’t going to be my lucky night, so I thought that I’d better quit before it got any worse and retired for the night and good few pounds lighter.
Shoes worn 3: flat silver sandals to breakfast, sensible white shoes to Guernsey, amber high-heeled sandals for evening.

GOOD FRIDAY - ZEEBRUGGE
Were still approaching Zeebrugge as we headed to breakfast in the Oriental where as well as toast and croissants they were also offering Hot Cross Buns, which I thought was a nice touch and they were very nice too. Then donning our wet weather gear we got on a shuttle bus into Blankenberge and from here took a tram to Ostende where following a very brief walk along the front we had a very nice hot chocolate with whipped cream before heading back on the tram and then shuttle bus to the ship. We arrived too late for the restaurant, but I had noticed in the Horizon that Al Fresco had re-opened that day, so we popped up there for lunch. Went to reception after that to see how much OBC we still had left to spend and worked out that we could have a couple of rounds of pre-dinner drinks, a bottle of wine that evening and still have some left! Started chucking a few bits & pieces in the bags, but we have opted for the self-disembarkation option, so no rush to finish the packing and get the bags out. We then watched The Kings Speech on TV in the cabin. When the canapés were delivered I nipped down to Tiffanys a got a couple of drinks to have with them in the cabin before getting ready for dinner (casual) and heading to the shops where I bought some make-up. We had a round of drinks in Andersons followed by another excellent meal in the Oriental restaurant – went for the full five courses this evening! After dinner I headed back to the casino to get my revenge and had a much better evening, ending up cashing in £150 worth of chips. Sounds pretty good, but I reckon I just about broke even over the 2 nights. I popped down to reception just to check how much OBC and found there was still £7.65 – so called in to Andersons and ordered another drink which I took back to the cabin before retiring for the night.

Shoes worn 2: sensible white flats (already counted) to Zeebrugge, white pumps to lunch, gold heeled sandals for evening.

[Gill W]

Glad you enjoyed your adventure and everything turned out ok.

In fact, with a free hotel stay in the New Forest, 50% refund, OBC and free wine, it may have turned out even better than anticipated.

P&O seem to have done an excellent job in a very difficult situation.