Oriana Leaving

[davecttr]

When googling what happened to Destiny your name and CC post was mentioned when you were booked on Destiny and I believe they were bringing in Celebration which was 10 years younger and Destiny(Sunbird on Sun Cruises) was being returned to Louis cruises.

Maybe that was the Caribbean cruise. It went well, we had a whale of a time. I did like the old Destiny, especially the sky bar.

[grapau27]

Maybe that was the Caribbean cruise. It went well, we had a whale of a time. I did like the old Destiny, especially the sky bar.

We went on Sunbird(Destiny) twice the second time was the last Cruise before she was going to Thomson.

Lots of people didn't realize the skybar was there so it was often quiet and I remember going past Stromboli and having a fantastic view from there.

[snaefell]

I have heard some great things about 'Fred' cruises in the past so was quite surprised to read so many negatives on this thread,we are not avid cruisers but are always looking for something interesting,we did Britannia's transatlantic return from the Carribean back in March which we thoroughly enjoyed & we do like Britannia,but we then endured an horendous 7 hour coach journey back to Manchester from Southampton,never our favourite part of the trip!

After that we went looking for something that sailed from closer to home,which means Liverpool,& ordered a load of FO brochures,these totally failed to inspire us,anything we did fancy seemed expensive,we didn't even think about the 'care home' side of it,we had enough of that at a hotel we stayed at in Portugal in May,at least most of the guests made us feel young!

Have pretty much given up hope of Liverpool coming up with the promised 'proper' cruise terminal so that the bigger cruise liners can start cruises there,at least in our life time!

[DamianG]

Our first cruise was on Fred Olsen back in 2003, we hadn't known what to expect; it was a special cruise to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary - a fly cruise to the Caribbean on Braemar. We loved it. We had a Balcony Suite which to us, at that time, was lovely, not huge but with a settee and a balcony. We had a fantastic time. Then after that a friend suggested we tried P&O, they had started with FO too and then discovered P&O. So we had another fly cruise on Adonia - the old one, sister to Oceana. We had an aft mini suite. To our amazement we found that the huge aft mini suite was almost the same price as the Balcony Suite on Braemar. We could have put our FO Balcony Suite into the Adonia mini several times. So that was the start of our cruising with P&O and we didn't feel we wanted to go back to Fred Olsen.

 

Lovely to hear about the original Adonia. We did a couple of cruises with Carnival and NCL before being recommended to try P&O and our first cruise with them was on Adonia in 2004. We had lovely table companions who I always remember (Phil & Jill, Ali & Nicole if you happen to be reading this) and the former were experienced cruisers who we learned a lot from. We loved the ship especially one bar (can't remember the name) where if you went for a pre-dinner drink you were served canapes as well.

All our cruises since then have been with P&O and there are still lots of things about their cruises that we enjoy. I just wish they'd retain some Aurora/Oriana size ships for families who want to sail from Southampton.

Cheers

Damian

[besberry]

We used to prefer Oriana and Aurora and spent many nights in Anderson's bar.

Now we are mainly RC I have been on all their classes of ships except Quantum class and loved them all for different reasons.

I love the Quantum class ships, but I found they move about a bit more than some of the other classes.

[grapau27]

I love the Quantum class ships, but I found they move about a bit more than some of the other classes.

Quantum class is the only class we haven't been on but I had heard similar comments about their stability.

[Captainclive.]

I personally love the smaller size ships, as they are more intimate so you get to know staff and fellow passengers.

 

Huge ships have their pluses with more facilities, but with 4000 passengers on Britannia, I found the deck space to be insufficient, and it always seemed crowded, and impersonal.

 

So its Aurora for me with Oriana going, and when P&O eventually sell her as well, then its goodbye from me, and I will find another line with smaller ships

[Deeliteful]

Oriana was my first cruise, the start of my addiction! Since then have sailed with Celebrity, RCL, Princess, FO, Azamara, Cunard as well as P&O. Would happily sail with any of them again except FO, at 67 I’m far too young for their ships!

Highly recommend Azamara if you like the smaller ships.

Off on Azura on Saturday.

xx

[jeanlyon]

Ha ha, I feel the same about Fred. good food and don't mind the ships, but at 71 I am far too young!