Oriana Dilemma.

I was looking at a cruise on the Queen Victoria in January which has been cancelled due to an emergency dry dock. The Oriana is doing a cruise around the same time.

My dilemma is the Queen Victoria has been my ship of choice for the last four years. Prior to that I had cruised on Ventura and Azura but prefer the more traditional cruising on Cunard and their beautiful ships.

The Oriana cruise is very well priced especially for a single passenger. I am a bit nervous about booking the cruise because of some of the posts I have read that P&O are cutting costs and have let the Oriana become run down as it is their oldest ship.

I have always fancied going on the Oriana as I did some wonderful cruises on the original Oriana in the 70's and 80's.

Hope you can help me on what to do.

When people claim the Oriana is run down (I don't know whether it is or not), they're referring to a bare patch on the stair carpet or scuff marks on a chair leg - not missing panels and faulty wiring. It depends how much that's likely to bother you. I suspect it will be in much better condition than the 1970's Oriana was.

She is my favourite ship (of those still sailing) and to me doesn't look remotely run down (or didn't in March). She is a traditional proper cruise ship and I suspect those who call her run down are comparing her with the likes of Azura. She doesn't have that glitzy modern look it is true but she does have a quiet elegance and loads of lovely open teak-coverred deck space.

Thanks for your replies.

Looking at the ship's tour video on the P&O website she certainly looks in good shape.

Is there much difference in food quality between P&O and Cunard?

When people claim the Oriana is run down (I don't know whether it is or not), they're referring to a bare patch on the stair carpet or scuff marks on a chair leg - not missing panels and faulty wiring. It depends how much that's likely to bother you. I suspect it will be in much better condition than the 1970's Oriana was.

We had a cabin in March that had black bits in the tap water for the whole duration of the cruise, yellow mucky water coming out of shower on occasions, a toilet that was inconsistent in flushing and you didnt know until it was too late. Serious water leak flooding part of B deck, water leaking through ceiling in Tiffany's and a water leak through ceiling by photography desk and hot air blower in operation for days drying out the carpet. All cabin problems were reported to reception from start of cruise and they did nothing at all and never saw a plumber until 2 days before end of cruise and he didnt solve water problems. Oriana has been selling cruises cheaply all year and continue to do so into 2015 that should tell you something so it wasnt the odd scuff mark or bare patch on the carpet. Finally I would not set foot on Oriana again whatever the price and yes we were on the same cruise as Host Sharon but Oriana has become the "new" Canberra and a lot look through roise tinted spectacles and will not have a bad word said against her. P&O wonder why the cruise prior to ours was full of noro virus but when you have serious problems with toilets and water not surprised and from some reports I have read still have these problems.

As I take off my rose tinted spectacles and look back to my recent cruise on Oriana in June, I do not agree that she is 'run down' and am really looking forward to going on her again in the not too distant future.

I love the traditional feel of Oriana and her 'quiet elegance' - lovely description, Host Sharon - and I feel that she is very well maintained. Obviously as a 19 year old, there are some areas which look a little tired - eg the furniture and decor in our cabin show a few wear and tear marks and the area around the windows take a lot of effort to keep really clean looking. The plughole in the sink and the shower cubicle with its unfashionable curtain are also other areas which show their age. Having said that, our shower room always looked squeaky clean and not at all dingy. The walls shone! I also thought that the public areas and carpets etc always looked nice and clean.

We had no problems with our waterworks whilst onboard and heard no horror stories like majortom describes above. Water pressure was excellent with abundant and constant hot water other than one day when there was some problem somewhere as on one of the port days, our water was switched off to address an issue. Also, a cubicle in one of the ladies loos was constantly going out or order and being attended to by maintenance men.

Other than that I saw no buckets, floods, leaks, wet carpets etc etc nor did I hear any horror stories from other passengers. Quite the opposite actually - so many people were saying how Oriana will always be a favourite ship to them even after sampling other more modern and glitzy ones.

We returned home last Friday after a lovely week on Oriana. We had no issues in the cabin at all and saw nothing of note on corridors, decks, etc.

The food was lovely with the same dinner menus as earlier in the year on Azura and always served hot with a good choice and lots of always available dishes.

Comparing dinners from this most recent cruise the Queen Victoria dinners from a year ago I actually preferred the P&O meals. On QV I recall getting a large piece of meat with one carrot, one piece of broccoli and two potatoes at the side whereas on P&O there were more vegatables and sometimes 4 or 5 potatoes - not the tiny new ones but good sized roast potatoes as well as a smaller yet good size portion of meat. I know you can ask for more veg and potatoes on both ships but this is just comparing the plated dinner before asking for anything additional.

It's so annoying when people wax lyrical about a ship or a cruise line because they have not encountered anything untoward on their cruise. I too was on the Oriana in March/April this year. The water leak was right outside our suite on Deck B. It was sopping wet for days. We also met a couple whose cabin was flooded on Deck A, and we found out they were not alone. We'd been on the Oriana before and liked the ship but I'm afraid she really has got problems. No doubt people will continue to book cruises on the Oriana, but I'm afraid it's one ship I don't want to cruise on again.

It's so annoying when people wax lyrical about a ship or a cruise line because they have not encountered anything untoward on their cruise. I too was on the Oriana in March/April this year. The water leak was right outside our suite on Deck B. It was sopping wet for days. We also met a couple whose cabin was flooded on Deck A, and we found out they were not alone. We'd been on the Oriana before and liked the ship but I'm afraid she really has got problems. No doubt people will continue to book cruises on the Oriana, but I'm afraid it's one ship I don't want to cruise on again.

I do think they should take Oriana out of service for a few days and get those problems sorted, they tried fixing the problem on D deck behind Tiffany's last year while cruising the Med but just made it worse.

It's so annoying when people wax lyrical about a ship or a cruise line because they have not encountered anything untoward on their cruise. I too was on the Oriana in March/April this year. The water leak was right outside our suite on Deck B. It was sopping wet for days. We also met a couple whose cabin was flooded on Deck A, and we found out they were not alone. We'd been on the Oriana before and liked the ship but I'm afraid she really has got problems. No doubt people will continue to book cruises on the Oriana, but I'm afraid it's one ship I don't want to cruise on again.

It is equally annoying when people who have had a bad experience on one cruise condemn the ship for ever for all time

We can all only speak as we find.

It's so annoying when people wax lyrical about a ship or a cruise line because they have not encountered anything untoward on their cruise.

Short of introducing a rule that bans anyone from waxing lyrical unless they've interviewed every other passenger, I don't see what can be done about that. I've had numerous enjoyable cruises on P&O - I can't really be expected to keep quiet about them because I've heard of someone that had a bad time.

Besides, so much of it depends on the person. I once overheard someone banging on about the "cruise from hell" she'd been on just a few months earlier, describing all the things that went wrong and why it was such a bad time. Half-way through the rant, I recognised enough details to know that I'd been on the same cruise, and enjoyed it.

Only ever been on one cruise, on Oriana. Everything went wrong on that cruise which was no fault of anyone or anything, just a like a car, things can go mechanically wrong at any time.

However, my description of the ship in one of my first posts here was describing the ship as 'beautifully elegant'.

We loved her so much that we have booked to go on her again and are off in 7 weeks time.

You can take my post with a tinge of cynicism if you like judging from my lack of experience, however, if I hadn't of liked the ship, I would certainly have vented my feelings, and definitely wouldn't have booked up for her again.

I was on Oriana last November and while the ship is not brand new and glossy, she has matured nicely. She certainly is not "run down" at all.

Oriana is the most traditional of the P&O ships - a proper cruise liner rather than a floating hotel.

In my opinion, the food on Oriana is a bit better than it was on QV and QM2 - but then I did not travel in "Grill Class".

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I didn't mean when people wax lyrical per se. I meant when someone criticises a ship or cruise company because they've had a poor experience and people immediately contradict that post. It's almost as if they are doubting that person's word. I'm sure there are many people who think the Oriana wonderful. I however agree with majortom, the ship has plumbing problems. I certainly have never been bothered about the odd scuff mark. I've only ever cruised on the Oriana and the Aurora which also is a little shabby these days, the difference is I enjoyed almost 4 months on the Aurora and I'm going back on her for another 4 months in January. If it were the Oriana I'd be cancelling.

Like I said in my post earlier there are some that will stick up for Oriana whatever and that is their choice but like when i reported about Oriana on my return got some rather nasty vicious messages and personal attacks. I was accused of lying and making things seem worse than they actually were. When I reported my problems to P&O they said they would check my reports to reception and problems encountered and get back to me. There reply was that they were very sorry had fallen way short of their usual high standards and everybody should expect clean drinking water, flushing toilet facilities and clean water for cleansing and they had clearly not done that with my cabin. Unfortunately it put a dampers on what otherwise was a fantstic experience to have a chance to view the Northern Lights.

Have just booked the cruise on the Oriana in January. Already looking forward to it.

Thanks again for all of your advice.

And enjoy it pkpon. I so wish I was able to come along too - :) I am sure you will have a lovely time.

I was on Oriana at Easter and thought she was a lovely ship. No worse and no better than Ventura, Oceana, Aurora and Arcadia which I have sailed on. I fact I really cannot choose a favourite.:eek:

The only reason I stick up for Oriana is that, for me, she is the perfect ship. perhaps I am fortunate not to have experienced any problems either in or near my cabin, although I have been on board through two norovirus outbreaks, but in March the NV problems of the previous cruise were clearly sorted as the normal 48 hour precautions were soon lifted. On any ship I do not go looking for scuffed paint of worn carpets anyway and I am certainly not above complaining if things are not right - we pay a lot for our holidays.

I hope you have a wonderful time PkPon - personally I prefer P&O food to Cunard (Britannia). Sadly I have a whole year to wait before I get back on Oriana :(

I have today returned from a 14 night cruise on Oriana to the Fjords and I think that any problems that occurred in March/April must have been sorted out as we did not encounter or hear about any problems during this most enjoyable cruise on a lovely liner.

I have today returned from a 14 night cruise on Oriana to the Fjords and I think that any problems that occurred in March/April must have been sorted out as we did not encounter or hear about any problems during this most enjoyable cruise on a lovely liner.

That's good to hear, as Aurora's 2015 cruises don't look so appealing we are looking at reverting to Oriana and were a little concerned about the plumbing problems!

I would think that as they had such a bad problem with a leak/leaks, that they got it fixed. When we on Azura 3 months after she came into service, nearly all the public loos were out of order, leaks, plumbing problems etc. In fact one carpet was badly soiled. So it can happen on any ship. We were on Oriana last September and she was fantastic, so much more like a cruise ship than Azura. Love the tiered decks at the stern, lovely wide prom deck that you can walk all the way round. Can't wait to be back on board in October.

There is a great cruise on the Oriana in 2016. It's a good itinerary and it's for 50 days. Exactly the length of time I'd like and places I'd like to visit. If it were not on the Oriana I'd book it today.:(

There is a great cruise on the Oriana in 2016. It's a good itinerary and it's for 50 days. Exactly the length of time I'd like and places I'd like to visit. If it were not on the Oriana I'd book it today.:(

Why, what don't you like about Oriana?

I don't like the ship for several reasons, but I think you should experience the Oriana and decide for yourself what you think of her. You may love the ship, she's just not for me.