Oriana X507 - Embarkation - or not!

Reports about cruises on Oriana
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MicheleW
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 262
Joined: January 2013
Location: Wales

Oriana X507 - Embarkation - or not!

#1

Post by MicheleW »

Hi everyone – we’re home safely after a VERY enjoyable and somewhat unusual trip, as most of you may have heard!!!

So here is the story of the cruise that nearly wasn’t – apologies for the length of the first report – the rest is much shorter and pretty run of the mill!

Once I had posted my pre-cruise topic on the forum on Monday afternoon, I switched the computer off and didn’t look again until we got home so missed the email from P&O regarding the late embarkation due to the Norovirus. So we left home on Tuesday morning at about 8.30 and arrived at Dock Gate 4 about 11.30 to be greeted by the words “The ships not in yet – carry on round to the terminal and someone will see you there.” Looking rather bemused at each other, we proceeded to the terminal where we were told that due to the strong winds, Oriana had been unable to dock and disembark the previous passengers and that we should come back at 4.00pm when they would start taking cars. So we headed into the city centre, found somewhere to park and went for a wander round the West Quay shopping centre – and no, I didn’t buy any more shoes! We had just sat down to have lunch when I got a text message from P&O saying that they had been unable to move Oriana safely to a terminal and they had regrettably taken the decision to delay the cruise for 24 hours and that we should arrive tomorrow at our original check-in time. It also said that both ports would be maintained and that we would receive a 50% refund off our holiday! We were asked to proceed to Ocean Terminal if we were unable to delay our journey where their teams would assist us and that the text would be followed up by a telephone call later in the day. Our first thought was ‘we need somewhere to stay tonight!’ Not liking the idea of staying in Southampton and guessing that there would probably be a bit of a shortage of rooms there, we headed off towards the New Forest and went to the Forest Lodge Hotel at Lyndhurst. They had a room available and just as we were checking-in P&O called and asked what our situation was. We explained that we were checking in to a hotel in Lyndhurst and the very nice young lady told us to send the receipt for accommodation and dinner to Head Office and we would be reimbursed and informed us that as well as receiving 50% of the cost of the cruise refunded we would also receive £30.00 each OBC. She the said we should proceed to the Ocean Terminal to start our cruise the next day at our allotted time.

We had a very pleasant stay at the hotel and checked out at 11.00 the next morning for the short journey back to Southampton. As we got to Dock Gate 4, it was very reassuring to see Oriana in the berth! We pulled up and handed the bags and car over and entered the terminal. We were greeted at the top of the stairs and as we were in a mini-suite were shown to the priority seating area with our health forms and a letter explaining that due to the increase in number of cases of gastrointestinal illness on board during the previous cruise Oriana had undergone an additional and extensive disinfection. Anyway, check-in opened at 12.00 and we were very quickly processed and then shown down to another separate seating area at the far end of the terminal to wait for embarkation to commence. The layout and system in the Ocean Terminal was a bit different to before, but whether this was due to the Norovirus situation or a permanent thing I don’t know. The area at the far end where they used to have the tensa barriers that you had to zig-zag back and forth along was enclosed in screens and had 3 x-ray machines. This appeared to be just for the priority boarding. Just before this area were another 3 or 4 x-ray machines. People were being called to check-in by coloured card, but were then asked to retain their cards and take a seat again and they would be called by card again for embarkation. I’m afraid I’m not really sure exactly what was happening as we were right at the far end and couldn’t really see what was happening. It was about 1.00pm before they called us through to the security area but we were soon on board. They were offering lunch for everybody in either the conservatory or the Peninsular restaurant – so we headed for the Peninsular where they were also offering a self-serve lunch. All the extra precautions were in place and remained so for the duration of the cruise, such as no salt & pepper pots, butter dishes, sugar bowls, preserves, milk jugs, etc. on the tables. The waiters brought these round to everyone individually and helped you to anything that was ‘self-serve’. All the public toilet doors were wedged open and when ordering meals in the main restaurants, they asked you to order your pudding along with your starter and main as the menus could not be given out again.
Once the announcement came at 2.00 that the cabins were ready, we headed up to B deck and located our home for the next 3 nights. We were very happy with the cabin and extras, such as champagne, chocolates, fruit bowl and very nice presentation box of White Company toiletries in the bathroom (larger than normal and containing whirlpool bath with shower over) along with towelling robes. There was also a note with an additional half bottle of champagne apologising that they were unable to offer the embarkation lounge which would normally be the case and to accept the bottle with their compliments! Plus we also had a 2 free sailaway glasses – and I knew that Mum had also arranged for a bottle for us along with some OBC – so looking very good so far! I took a wander down the corridor and found our bags so started to unpack and then our steward, Normi, came to introduce herself. Our muster station was in Andersons and afterwards we grabbed our sailaway champagne and took them back to our balcony. I then decided to nip down to the Oriental restaurant to let them know that we wouldn’t be dining there that evening, as we had pre-booked in the Ocean Grill for 1st April for our anniversary, and found a huge queue of people presumably trying to alter their dining arrangements! We had canapés delivered to the cabin at around 6.00pm, so decided to open the half bottle of champagne to wash them down. Then although it was a smart casual evening, we dressed in our jacket required outfits and had a quick pre-dinner drink in Andersons, before heading to the Ocean Grill for a delicious meal, sharing a Chateaubriand for our main. We retired to the cabin to find a note from the cabin apologising again for the delay to the start of the cruise and re-iterating the 50% refund and £30.00pp OBC. It also stated that there would be a team on board from the Customer Services Department in Southampton who would be happy to process any additional expenses. Also anyone who had booked car parking through CPS would receive OBC to the value of one nights parking!

Shoes worn: 4: pair of heels for travelling, flip-flops in cabin, espadrilles for flitting round ship, black heels for evening.

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Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Oriana X507 - Embarkation - or not!

#2

Post by Manoverboard »

Gosh, how exciting :lol:

I thought, since the intro of auto-tipping, that if one booked a Select Dining venue the ' system ' now ensured that your MDR was advised .... is this not the case ?
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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david63
Site Admin
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Posts: 9391
Joined: January 2012
Location: Lancashire

Re: Oriana X507 - Embarkation - or not!

#3

Post by david63 »

Despite all the critics of P&O it seems that in this case they went that "extra mile" to help the passengers - but no doubt there will be some running off down to their solicitors to claim compensation for life long trauma.

I bet the CSD staff would have preferred it to have been a three week cruise to the Caribbean rather than a three day cruise


12maxine
Cadet
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Posts: 37
Joined: October 2013

Re: Oriana X507 - Embarkation - or not!

#4

Post by 12maxine »

Good report - we were on the previous cruise (which was excellent) and we had extra day/night on board. The captain and crew were brilliant with regular updates of the situation together with free wine and beer. It was a bit inconvenient due to work commitments but could not be helped, better than being stranded at an airport. At least our hand luggage contained our washing things etc.

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