Oriana still for sale

[daiB]

Interesting that they use old pictures with the yellow funnel! LOL

 

 

That's cos the advert is so old. :cool::cool::cool::cool::rolleyes:

[Britboys]

With Arcadia, hopefully we have up to 10 years before the smaller ships have gone. I'll need to defect to Fred Olsen or Saga then!

[john watson]

It will be interesting to see how many people leave P&O if / when Oriana, Oceana are replaced by the giants. We tried Britannia and decided that she was just a bit to big for us and that Azura was the limit for us.

 

The thing is that newcomers have no experience of what went before and do not miss it. The ships are getting bigger and bigger but not that much bigger than the previous biggest. In the short term people do not notice the difference. Looking back over when people started cruising and they reminisce about their first cruise on a ship that is no longer with us. They forget all the bad bits and remember the best of what they can recollect. Generally this is a memory of people they were with, who they met, how things were things, what happened but not a complete and accurate picture.

 

Regards John

[NoFlyGuy]

Big, medium or small. Can't say which I prefer - there's always pros and cons. We do like Oriana and wouldn't want to see her sold anytime soon. We've got four cruises booked on her between now and Feb '19!

[NSWP]

With Arcadia, hopefully we have up to 10 years before the smaller ships have gone. I'll need to defect to Fred Olsen or Saga then!

 

Are Fred Olsen and Saga the 'Floating Nursing Homes?' :confused:

 

As for Oriana I was on her in 2016 and did the 'Ship's Tour.' I can tell you she is a bit worn out under all that paint. Even the Chief Engineer admitted that when we visited the engine control room.

Edited February 3, 2018 by NSWP

[hooked-cruiser]

I was recently on board a P&O ship (Won;t say which for obvious reasons) when I was speaking with the captain on exactly this topic. His reply to me when I asked if the Oriana was for sale was " Every P&O ship is available for sale at the right price and if the offer is acceptable the sale will be made". He also stated that the older ships in the fleet have been up for sale for several years.

I hope that this clarify s the situation for those people who are adamant that the Oriana is not for sale. Straight from the Captains mouth!!!

[Selbourne]

I was recently on board a P&O ship (Won;t say which for obvious reasons) when I was speaking with the captain on exactly this topic. His reply to me when I asked if the Oriana was for sale was " Every P&O ship is available for sale at the right price and if the offer is acceptable the sale will be made". He also stated that the older ships in the fleet have been up for sale for several years.

I hope that this clarify s the situation for those people who are adamant that the Oriana is not for sale. Straight from the Captains mouth!!!

 

I think that most of us would concede that Oriana, as the oldest ship (and with very few balconies, which are a pre-requisite for more and more cruisers nowadays), will most likely be sold once the two new mega ships are in service (or about to be), but ‘everything is for sale at the right price’ is an entirely different position to an active sale. As others have said, all ships are effectively on the speculative market permanently and P&O is no exception. But I would think it unlikely that P&O would want to be faced with the problem of trying to deal with the cancellation of many thousands of bookings on Oriana over the next few years until they have an alternative to offer.

[Britboys]

The thing is that newcomers have no experience of what went before and do not miss it. The ships are getting bigger and bigger but not that much bigger than the previous biggest. In the short term people do not notice the difference. Looking back over when people started cruising and they reminisce about their first cruise on a ship that is no longer with us. They forget all the bad bits and remember the best of what they can recollect. Generally this is a memory of people they were with, who they met, how things were things, what happened but not a complete and accurate picture.

 

Regards John

 

We don't all forget the bad bits John. I can remember sailing on Victoria in an inside cabin that had upper and lower bunk beds. If she were around in good condition today however, I would still choose her over Azura/Ventura.

[Britboys]

Are Fred Olsen and Saga the 'Floating Nursing Homes?' :confused:...

 

Whilst I was only just old enough to be on Saga Ruby when I cruised on her, I sincerely hope that I am as alert and active as many of the maturer pax I met on her. There was a 90 year-old lady on our table who had recently bought a new laptop so that she could download all her cruise photos and put them on a slideshow! I would love to sail on their new 58,000 ton ship - the artist impressions look stunning.

[Britboys]

I think that most of us would concede that Oriana, as the oldest ship (and with very few balconies, which are a pre-requisite for more and more cruisers nowadays), will most likely be sold once the two new mega ships are in service (or about to be), but ‘everything is for sale at the right price’ is an entirely different position to an active sale. As others have said, all ships are effectively on the speculative market permanently and P&O is no exception. But I would think it unlikely that P&O would want to be faced with the problem of trying to deal with the cancellation of many thousands of bookings on Oriana over the next few years until they have an alternative to offer.

 

The voice of reason as ever Selbourne.

[gadabout60]

Was interested to read on this thread about Saga buying a ship from Cunard then leasing it back to them to honour their commitments.

 

What a shame P&O did not arrange the same when they sold Adonia but were happy to let the booked Adonia passengers down with derisory “compensation “

All IMHO of course

[Josy1953]

We don't all forget the bad bits John. I can remember sailing on Victoria in an inside cabin that had upper and lower bunk beds. If she were around in good condition today however, I would still choose her over Azura/Ventura.

I feel the same about Canberra. She was old but I loved her. We had a huge cabin that looked out from the front. We spent our evenings in the Crow's nest and just had to come down a narrow staircase to arrive at our cabin. The cabin steward spoiled us for every cruise that came afterwards because he used to ask us in the evening what time we would like to be,women the next morning and would arrive,bang on time with for us. She was our second cruise, but Canberra was our most memorable and definitely gave us the cruising bug.

Things change and we all have to move forward, I still anticipate everybody's with the same enthusiasm as the first and consider myself lucky to be able cruise.

[simonpjd]

I think we can all imagine P&O in a few years time. The 2 new mega ships, Britannia, Acura and Ventura, and maybe Arcadia. Not much choice for us cruisers who like smaller ships. The Fred ships will be ancient by then. It will be Oceania ships, Voyages of Antiquity or Noble Caledonia for us. Bit more pricy but worth it methinks. Will anyone else be deserting P&O then.

 

 

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[NSWP]

Was interested to read on this thread about Saga buying a ship from Cunard then leasing it back to them to honour their commitments.

 

What a shame P&O did not arrange the same when they sold Adonia but were happy to let the booked Adonia passengers down with derisory “compensation “

All IMHO of course

 

No compo for us, just deposits back on 2 Adonia cruises after a two month wait.:evilsmile:

 

As for an Oriana Sale, it would not worry P&O if they had to cancel a few thousand bookings, they did it with Adonia. If Carnival gets offered the right price, she will be gone.

[Zombatar]

Same with us. All we got was the deposit returned. Since then we have given up on P&O, we are just back from seven days round the Caribbean on Silver Wind and are off on Queen Vitoria in the autumn of this year. P&O has lost our business but we all know that they couldn't care less.

 

Peter

[Presto2]

We just cant afford those other cruise lines as we are stuck to school holidays and cant make the most of late deals etc so back to land we suppose .....

 

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[NSWP]

Same with us. All we got was the deposit returned. Since then we have given up on P&O, we are just back from seven days round the Caribbean on Silver Wind and are off on Queen Vitoria in the autumn of this year. P&O has lost our business but we all know that they couldn't care less.

 

Peter

 

I am with you Peter, after the Adonia fiasco and I posted plenty re that on CC, P&O UK no longer will get my business. P&O could not even reply to my messages, letters. My agent had to chase them. I was treated like dirt. Interesting to note you UK pax were also treated badly, not just us Colonials. I did enjoy the half dozen cruises we did with them, Arcadia x 3, Aurora x 2 and Oriana x 1. :')

 

Yes I know P&O UK are part of the Carnival Empire, but some of their Lines operate better than others re customer relations.

 

Happy cruising.;p

Edited February 4, 2018 by NSWP

[gadabout60]

We got no compensation either. - by derisory I meant the offer of £100 off an alternative cruise. I gather they then increased most prices anyway. There wasn’t anything we wanted to do and anyway we would have been penalised further re cabin locations etc on other ships. Took over a month to get the deposit back as well

We have not been on P&O since - have taken one Celebrity with another booked. And a Fred Olsen booked for the spring to try. I have to say their customer service has been great.

The news that P&O have ordered what to me is another monster does not inspire

[Britboys]

No compo for us, just deposits back on 2 Adonia cruises after a two month wait.:evilsmile:

 

As for an Oriana Sale, it would not worry P&O if they had to cancel a few thousand bookings, they did it with Adonia. If Carnival gets offered the right price, she will be gone.

 

It is worth remembering though that Adonia only took 700 pax and Oriana holds almost 1900. Additionally, Oriana has been with P&O since she set sail in 1995. Cancelling potentially hundreds of thousands of pax would, I think, be a PR disaster too far - even for P&O! The difference is that they know Oriana is ageing and so will, with her, be planning an exit strategy (I hope :D).

[Bobblehat71]

It will be interesting to see how many people leave P&O if / when Oriana, Oceana are replaced by the giants. We tried Britannia and decided that she was just a bit to big for us and that Azura was the limit for us.

 

Britania is IMHO the worst example of a large ship you can find.The layout is aweful. I wouldn't right off large ships until you've tried another cruise line.

[joro44]

Regarding the secondhand value of ships, they are not unlike cars. There comes a time when they become almost worthless. Mention has been made of TS Canberra that P&O held onto well past its sell by date. No doubt its heroic 'run' to the Falklands contributed to the wish to keep it. However, those of us who sailed on her will remember the 'globs' of soot that had to be cleared or avoided before using the steamer chairs. By the time of its demise it was, with the Royal Yacht, one of the very few using obsolete heavy fuel oil, that became hard to sauce around the world, hence no buyers, so was scrapped. Unlike the Royal Yacht, that cruised around accompanied by its own fuel tanker!

Oriana is approaching this stage as its propulsion system is showing its age. RCI /Celebrity are trading their ships quite regularly, seemingly without worrying about their passengers emotions.

49 cruises 17 ships 3 liners

[Selbourne]

Regarding the secondhand value of ships, they are not unlike cars. There comes a time when they become almost worthless. Mention has been made of TS Canberra that P&O held onto well past its sell by date. No doubt its heroic 'run' to the Falklands contributed to the wish to keep it. However, those of us who sailed on her will remember the 'globs' of soot that had to be cleared or avoided before using the steamer chairs. By the time of its demise it was, with the Royal Yacht, one of the very few using obsolete heavy fuel oil, that became hard to sauce around the world, hence no buyers, so was scrapped. Unlike the Royal Yacht, that cruised around accompanied by its own fuel tanker!

Oriana is approaching this stage as its propulsion system is showing its age. RCI /Celebrity are trading their ships quite regularly, seemingly without worrying about their passengers emotions.

49 cruises 17 ships 3 liners

 

Had to smile at the globs of soot comment. Clearly Britannia must have been designed as a nostalgic throwback to the Canberra era, as it has exactly the same problem :)

[jeanlyon]

LOL, so do most ships. Balmoral was very sooty, but then so was Azura. So it's got nothing to do with age obviously.

[Britboys]

.... RCI /Celebrity are trading their ships quite regularly, seemingly without worrying about their passengers emotions.

49 cruises 17 ships 3 liners

 

But, I think, a higher percentage of Americans prefer a big ship with lots of facilities to stop them getting bored after 10 minutes. From reviews that I have read too, there are a fair number of Americans who feel a 5 year old ship is an old ship!

[Denarius]

Britania is IMHO the worst example of a large ship you can find.The layout is aweful. I wouldn't right off large ships until you've tried another cruise line.

I am not a lover of large ships, but tried Britannia with an open mind last January. She was in many ways better than the next largest P&O ship Ventura, with a noticably higher standard of furnishings in both the cabins and the public areas, plenty of tables in the buffet, less crowded tables in the restaurants and a marvelous Crows Nest. She did not however, feel like a ship. With no promenade deck she felt like a hotel with a rooftop swimming pool. It was almost as though the designers had set out to keep that nasty wet thing outside (the sea) out of sight and mind. And like most large hotels, she was completely impersonal with little of the camaraderie found in smaller ships. Whilst I would not say that I would not sail on her again if the itinerary attracted me, I am not in any hurry to do so.

Which leads to the question, who would choose her over other ships? Traditional cruisers appear in general to prefer smaller ships, whilst the new breed of sea vacationers who prefer large ships increasingly expect theme park type features such as wave pools, water slides, etc which Brotannia does not offer. She is you might say, a big version of a smaller ship with essentially small ship type facilities, and is in danger of falling between two stools.