Sue Kersh - 50 nights in heaven (onboard Oriana)

[Quizzical Bob]

You were lucky to have two days in Charleston - our call was due to be two, but 'due to a third party error' was curtailed to one day. It's such a lovely city - I think you need two days to do it justice.

Also a good idea to have a sail in party. We arrived mid morning, but they didn't think of a sail in party.

We didn't have Bermuda on our cruise. From your report, it sounds like a place I'd like to visit, so I'll bear that in mind if we ever do a similar itinerary. It would break up the sea days a bit, as we had 6 days to the Azores, which is a long time, even though I like sea days. A good place for the Great British Sailaway too - we had ours in Key West, which seemed too early in the cruise

We also had Manuel Martinez on the Atlantic crossing coming back

You were lucky to get even one day in Charleston. Our overnight stay there last November was cancelled due to an unforeseen feeble excuse. Yet another reason why P&O have lost our custom.

[Dennis The Menace]

Ponta Delgada

A fairly rough night crossing the Atlantic and the forecast is worse to come as we near the UK. I gave the gym a miss today due to the motion of the Ocean and took a tablet and stayed in bed until 8 am.

We docked for 9 am and headed straight to the supermarket as I needed to top up the tonic supply for the last of the gin.

We heard that the whale watching trip was cancelled due to rough seas and wind.

Plenty of free wifi in the shopping mall and we managed to get everything updated and contacted home before the mall became too busy and the signal slowed down.

We wandered the narrow streets and finely found the farmers market where we were hoping to find strung garlic. Plenty of strung onions and bags of garlic but stringing garlic must be a Spanish craft not a Portuguese one.

The weather improved and the sun came out but it remained very breezy. The final Sailaway party was on the aft deck in the sunshine but coats were required.

The crew show in aid of Mc Millan was on in the Pacific and another excellent show with some different performances from young cabin stewards as well as senior officers. We will find out tomorrow how much has been raised during the cruise for this worthwhile charity.

Micky Zany was in the Theatre but as we had seen him on a previous cruise decided to give this a miss as the ship was rocking and rolling and the theatre is at the very front of the ship.

Cocktail of the day Strawberry Daiquiri.

We now have 3 sea days back to Southampton and forecast is strong wind and rough seas for tomorrow.

15°C Partly Cloudy
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, Ponta Delgada, Ilha de São Miguel, Portugal

[Dennis The Menace]

1st and 2 nd Sea Day to Southampton

Sunday 8 May

It had been an extremely rough night with anything not fastened down flying off shelves in the cabin. We woke a number of times as the motion worsened through the early hours of the morning.

I managed to get to breakfast so that the cabin steward could make up the room. It was very unsteady around the ship with everyone doing funny walks zig zagging around the passageways.

I started sorting clothes for packing and finished one suitcase before the motion got to me and I had to get horizontal.

The noon announcement did not give any relief as the forecast was for this to continue until tomorrow afternoon. Overnight it had been gale force 11 which had dropped to gale force 10.

No Battle of the Sexes today due to the football matches being shown in the Lords Tavern.

Chocoholics Buffet for afternoon tea in the conservatory which we did not attend.

We had arranged to meet a friend in the Beach House for dinner. Another great meal with excellent company. We chatted for so long that we missed the shows but they will both be on again.

The wind had dropped to force 8 and was more comfortable to walk around but still very tiring trying to stay upright. The Captains announcement was that it would lessen overnight and he referred to the motion as being like a ping pong ball in a Jacuzzi. Vey appropriate.

The After Dinner speaker was Celebrity John Lyons in the Pacific Lounge and Half of the Opera Boys in the theatre. When we have seen these previously there were 4 of them but now they have shrunk to 2 members.

Cocktail of the day Berried Treasure.

Monday 9 May

It had been another fairly rough night but not as bad as Saturday night. I woke in time for the gym but only managed the first class before the motion got to me. Although the wind has died down considerably the ship is still rolling around. We did another hours packing before lunch leaving the the remainder until tomorrow.

The hour went forward at noon and we are now on UK time. After lunch the sun was out on the Aft deck and it was very hot. This has got to be a bonus sunny day and hopefully tomorrow will be the same.
I stayed in the sun for as long as possible before getting ready for our last formal night of the cruise.

Micky Zany was in the Theatre and it was the passenger talent show in the Pacific Lounge.

We sat outside enjoying the evening sun and we saw a pod of whales in the distance. There have been lots of sightings of whales and dolphins this cruise but I was surprised to see them so far up the coast of Spain.

Cocktail of the day Martini Royale.

[Whynd1]

Have really enjoyed reading your reports Sue. Seems like you had a fantastic time.

Lindsey

[Suekersh]

Hi everyone,
We arrived home yesterday afternoon after a quick disembarkation. A truly fabulous cruise with no complaints at all.

To save Dennis's arms this is my final report from the cruise. We are back on Oriana in August for 12 nights but as we have been to all the ports of call previously I will not be sending daily updates. I will however keep you informed if there is any juicy gossip of anything exciting happens.

Many thanks to Dennis for taking time to post my updates.

Final day of the Cruise.

A bright sunny morning but when I went outside after the early morning gym session it was still quite cool. The sun beds were out ready for any pax wanting to brave the temperature.

The fog descended before lunch time and the Captain enjoyed playing his horn as we were in the midst of lots of shipping.

After lunch I went to the Battle of the sexes Final. The ladies were in the lead by 40 points and won by 20 points in the end. A well fought battle.

We finished the cruise in the Pacific Lounge with the the very talented Opera Boys. There was a headliners show in the theatre and a dance night in Harlequins.

We finished the packing and put 7 pieces of baggage out for the porters. The next time we see them will be in the luggage collection hall tomorrow. We have kept 2 hand luggage cases with us and the booze bag which now has our duty free in. No way could we self disembark and carry all of our own luggage off ship. I was amazed that over 150 passengers did so.

Disembarkation Wednesday 11 May.

We were up early and in breakfast for 06:30. Disembarkation was painless and we were in a taxi and on the way to pick our up by 8:45. There were no customs officers in sight and lots of taxis waiting at the Ocean Terminal. The first 3 taxis in the rank were not large enough to carry our 10 pieces of luggage and we moved down the line until we came to a taxi van.

We hit some traffic on the outskirts of Southampton but we were still home for around 13:30.

A really great cruise and I wish we could turn round and do it all over again.

Now it is time to start the diet.

[barney]

Nice one Sue

Very much enjoyed reading your review & cheers to DTM as well and hope he's well.

[Quizzical Bob]

Welcome back Sue. I saw Oriana yesterday when I went to visit our painters in Woolston. She looked rather nice.

[Gill W]

Welcome home

Thanks for your reports, they were a great read.

Also thanks to DTM

[Belle53]

Really enjoyed reading your reports, thank you for taking the time to write them, it's sounds like you had a great time on the lovely Oriana.

[JillD66]

Thanks for the reports Sue (& Dennis!) We were supposed to be going on this one too but had to cancel in early February due to ill health.

Sounded wonderful but hopefully we'll be able to book something similar once all the investigations are done and dusted and we've saved up for the extra medical insurance required now!

Hope you enjoy your August Oriana cruise - its such a lovely friendly ship!

[Suekersh]

Thanks for the reports Sue (& Dennis!) We were supposed to be going on this one too but had to cancel in early February due to ill health.

Sounded wonderful but hopefully we'll be able to book something similar once all the investigations are done and dusted and we've saved up for the extra medical insurance required now!

Hope you enjoy your August Oriana cruise - its such a lovely friendly ship!

Sorry you had to cancel Gill. They are doing a similar itinerary in October this year but not one in 2017 at the same time of year as this year. We did similar American ports in 2010 at Xmas time and the weather was very cold. The weather in April was perfect. We are hoping they repeat this cruise in 2018 on Oriana.

Sue

[Dennis The Menace]

Welcome home Sue, and no problems at all re the posting of your reports - always enjoy them as you know, I was just a bit slow posting them on occasion

Looking forward to your next one

[AileenB]

Hi Sue! It was lovely to meet you on this cruise. Well done on your reports!! We loved this trip.... especially New Orleans. First time for us on Oriana and hope very much that we can sail on her again.