Life After Oriana

[Ginger Monkey]

Well, I'm sorry to see Oriana go, I've done more cruises on her than any other ship. Our last cruise on her was in march, which we enjoyed. Yes, she's showing her age, but for me personally I prefer her as she is, rather than the large ships which I feel are more like floating hotels rather than a traditional ship. Generally I think standards are slipping and P&O really don't care too much about their traditional cruisers. After a bad experience with Cunard, I generally think It's a Carnival wide problem. Our feeling on our last couple of cruises was more enjoying our cruise in spite of P&O policies and hospitality. We have canceled our next cruise on Oriana to the Med in October as we have just lost interest. It was made after having to transfer from a previous cruise which we had to cancel due to unforeseen family circumstances. P & O's intransigence in our original cancelation has left a bitter taste and forfaiting our deposit finally seemed like the best way of not putting good money after bad. That said my feelings are not driven by money as on the whole I think P&O cruises are cheap and P&O's remit is to sell cheap and then rake the money back once you're onboard!

Although I will still consider the smaller P&O ships my interest is now drawn towards Fred Olsen and some other lines. Maybe P&O getting rid of Oriana and the other smaller ships is doing us a favour by allowing us to move on. For some (me) Loyalty and clinging onto what was, is hard to lose even in the face of the reality.

Best Wishes Nigel