Oriana Weekender Review

Just back from the two-nighter to Belgium. Having been on previous cruises, and heard many cruisers waxing lyrical about Oriana, we thought this trip would be an ideal taster. Oriana is the only P&O ship we hadn't been on, so we were really looking forward to it and also to visiting Flanders Fields.

Boarding was smooth as usual and we were soon having a much welcome lunch and beverage in the Conservatory, which was surprisingly quiet for embarkation day. Cabins were ready as usual at approx. 2pm.

First impression of the balcony cabin was good - pleasantly spacious and spotlessly clean, if not a bit dated. However, the worst thing by far, was the toilet! Plumbing hardly worked and the toilet would simply not flush, which proved to be a major problem.

At muster, an extremely large group of us were herded into the casino side of Anderson's, it was cramped and hot with very limited seating and it took much longer than normal, for some unknown reason.

I can only compare Oriana to other P&O cruises that we have been on, but we found the service in the bars very poor. On every occasion, we waited ages to be served and then again for drinks to arrive (had happily gone to the bar to order and collect our own drinks but told to sit at table and wait to be served!) We felt the food in the MDR was generally very good, but unfortunately felt totally rushed on the first evening, luckily on the second night, the service was excellent.

Admin was very poor, no dining card had been left for us, so we didn't know which dining we had been allocated and neither did the staff! We received no disembarkation information either.

The shore excursion to Flanders Fields was fantastic, with a very knowledgable tour guide and we would highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest.

In conclusion, Oriana would personally be my least favourite ship and we are happy to be returning to our favourite in December - Arcadia.