Fighting on Oriana?

We were onboard this weekend and had a super time. I have just had a message about "fighting" onboard from a friend. They said it was all over Facebook . Confused now.

Oops. Just found the story. Try Daily Echo. We were out dancing quite late but did not see anything although our friends said they stopped the disco early this morning as there was an incident.

FIVE passengers have been thrown off a Southampton-based cruise ship after reports of a fight on board.

Crew of the Oriana, which is returning to the city today, asked the group - believed to be members of the same family - to make their own way home from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

According to reports from other guests on board the 69,000 ton vessel, a disturbance involving fighting and arguments among a family party broke out between late Saturday evening and the early hours of Sunday.

The five passengers were ordered off the P&O Cruises' ship when Oriana docked in Zeebrugge during a short two-night voyage which left Southampton on Saturday.

After being interviewed by Belgium police, members of the group were refused permission to re-board Oriana and had to make other travel arrangements to return to Southampton.

In a brief statement a spokesman for P&O Cruises said: “We can confirm five passengers were asked to disembark Oriana following an incident during the early hours of Sunday morning.”

.... I hope the CCTV caught it and its included in the "my cruise" dvd, sales would rocket.

I didn't see that for sale. Would have tried to buy one... But oh it was bad enough trying to buy a drink. The crew need some sales training and customer service skills.

Drinks service was brilliant on the 12 night cruise before...we had no trouble getting served...

As I am becoming increasingly aware, P&O is no different than Thomson :p

Especially on Oriana :eek:

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We had trouble in every bar, even trying to get wine in the dining room. The two night trips are very different to the longer trips.

We had trouble in every bar, even trying to get wine in the dining room. The two night trips are very different to the longer trips.

Must say we have never had problems getting served drinks on Oriana albeit for a 7 day and a 14 day cruise - nor did we have problems getting served last week on Aurora on our 2 night trip to Belgium.

I do prefer the more relaxed ambiance of a longer cruise as on just 2 nights, people are in a great rush to fit everything in, but I thought the organisation on the ship's part was brilliant - and could not fault the crew at all.

As I am becoming increasingly aware, P&O is no different than Thomson :p

 

Especially on Oriana :eek:

 

Like it :D

These people were removed Sunday morning. Our friends were out late last night and the disco was stopped and security called as some thing else occurred. There are always going to be issues on these types of trip.

I don't think there were any such issues on our 2 nighter. Why should there always be issues, Pudd?

I don't think there were any such issues on our 2 nighter. Why should there always be issues, Pudd?

A lot of people use 2 nighters as a Booze Cruise!

A lot of people use 2 nighters as a Booze Cruise!

And an awful lot don't! We have done 6 two and three nighters and all have been very good with no trouble or drunks on board..... In fact great fun.

Our friends were on this cruise, this weekend and saw no problems.. but did say that the food and service was appalling.... So much so it has put them off P&O.... Shame as we were on Oriana for two nights in October and food was OK, not brilliant but edible and service was good.. Wonder why it changes so suddenly...

The thing is nobody can say that there was never any trouble on their cruise because P&O are very discreet when throwing people off the ships after trouble at the next port.

The thing is nobody can say that there was never any trouble on their cruise because P&O are very discreet when throwing people off the ships after trouble at the next port.

Yes you are right, although gossip tends to carry it a good way around the ship.

I think that the problem regarding service on these short cruises is that there are more people wanting to get a drink at any one time compared to a long cruise. A number of people have said they have been on Oriana recently and had excellent service.

So I think that the staff, in a way, get overwhelmed but the demand. The bars are set up for longer cruises where people do not drink as much per night as they do on the short ones. I have noticed it, on Oceana and Azura this year. The bars just do not seem as busy as they used to a number of years ago. I always sit up at the bar and take note of what is going on.

I think the company needs possibly to take a different approach for short cruises and either bring in more staff, not easy as there is no pool to take them from, or put more staff on serving at the bar and allow people to wait for service at the bar. I am not sure how either of these would work.

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We've been on just one 2-night cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it; however we immediately noticed the change in vibe on the ship, largely due to the demographics of the passenger population.

On 2/3-night cruises, there are many more single-sex parties rather than couples and families. These single-sex parties are on board to celebrate an event such as milestone birthday or a bachelor/ette party; therefore they are seeking a somewhat 'wilder' time. Human behaviour changes significantly in these social worlds and it is interesting to watch. It was the only cruise where I have witnessed a single man trying to separate a 'hen' from the 'pack' whilst on the dance floor. His drunken efforts were hysterical. Or the ladies who think they are on the set of 'Sex in the City' and walk 4 abreast everywhere, leaving other passengers diving into recesses in the corridor so that they don't get crushed!

We've been on just one 2-night cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it; however we immediately noticed the change in vibe on the ship, largely due to the demographics of the passenger population.

 

This was not so noticeable on our recent 2 nighter as it was Sunday- Tuesday and so I think did not attract many hens and stags. We had several Big Birthday groups, but these looked to be family groups and their tables helped to bring a party atmosphere to the MDR and to other bars they appeared in.

 

We did see one hen group celebrating in a separate room on Formal Night, but they were no trouble at all and we didn't see much of them at all at other times - but then we most probably didn't go to the same bars or to the nightclub.

 

I did see a very inappropriate-for-the-MDR dress though : a young girl wearing a very very tight skirt, thankfully below the knee, with a huge slit up the back worn with what looked to be just a black lacy bra!! This revealed a huge amount of midriff and I am sure the waiting staff would not have known where to look. I did wonder if this was a 'hen stunt', but since coming home have been told that it was probably the new fashion of wearing a crop top!! Perhaps I am just showing my age and stage here lol.

 

What I did notice though was a grabbing mentality from some older passengers who had had very cheap last minute deals ( I know this because I heard them say) and were intent on making sure they got their money's worth and more, even if it meant elbowing people out of the way to get there first, and also full of moans and complaints. This element was more noticeable to me than I had seen before on longer cruises.

 

Didn't hear of any 'trouble' though.

What I did notice though was a grabbing mentality from some older passengers who had had very cheap last minute deals ( I know this because I heard them say) and were intent on making sure they got their money's worth and more, even if it meant elbowing people out of the way to get there first, and also full of moans and complaints. This element was more noticeable to me than I had seen before on longer cruises.

You are so right on this one, old folk barging into you if they think you are taking the last piece of X,Y,Z from the buffet even though there is a fresh plate full of it just waiting to be switched over by the staff behind the counter. They are so rude! And this is on longer cruises just as much as short ones, but a problem that seems unique to P&O.

You are so right on this one, old folk barging into you if they think you are taking the last piece of X,Y,Z from the buffet even though there is a fresh plate full of it just waiting to be switched over by the staff behind the counter. They are so rude! And this is on longer cruises just as much as short ones, but a problem that seems unique to P&O.

I know! I couldn't believe it! I actually got 'set on' in the queue whilst embarking. We had been told to queue in a certain place and then a man in the queue next to me aggressively accused me of queue jumping and went on and on.... and that was with 5 and a half hours still to go before Sailaway.

Do you really believe it to be unique to P&O?

Do you really believe it to be unique to P&O?

I think so or its a lot more prevalent. Cant say I've seen it on any other of the biggies such as Princess, RCCL, Celebrity, HAL etc

We had wonderful service on our 14 nighter. I don't think the crew like these 2 nighters. I have read this before somewhere.

We had no complaints at all about the attitude of the crew on Aurora last week for the 2 nighter - just some fellow passengers, lol.

In fact I was surprised as to how quickly the head waiter and his assistant familiarised himself with us our preferences and joked- and greeted us personally in the other MDR for lunch the next day. The cabin steward was also lovely and paid us a lot of attention. We also had good service in the Crow's Nest and the cocktail bars, but we never used the Champions Bar, so cannot comment on the service there.

Mind you, it might have helped that I had my pretty glam daughter of 31 with me!!!

I think so or its a lot more prevalent. Cant say I've seen it on any other of the biggies such as Princess, RCCL, Celebrity, HAL etc

it might be an age related thing. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some older passengers are more likely to complain about almost anything, even if it is almost irrelevant. They do it at home too,. their personalities have matured into complaining mode and it has become an ingrained habit. I have read this might be because they are stressed and miserable inside and externalise it, in other words, if i am miserable everyone else should be as well. It is not a concious thing though. they don't know they are doing it.

-oops, wrong topic