Oriana

[Bennybluehat]

I’m in my 40s and when you have been on an adult only ship and the comedian says to you his act must have been like a history lesson to you, I think that sums up what age group the entertainment was aimed at! Even an occasional break into 70s music would have been refreshing but there was nothing at all to entertain 40 somethings let alone anyone younger. I don’t want screaming kids or rowdy teens roaming around but having some well behaved youngsters would have been like a breath of fresh air. It was actually quite depressing.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Bennybluehat

[Selbourne]

22 minutes ago, Bennybluehat said:

I liked Oriana as a ship, what I didn’t like was that it was an “adults only” ship which in reality means adults over the age of 65. Fine, if the most modern music you like is  from the 50s and you enjoy listening to people snore whilst in the theatre. I’ve had many cruises on Aurora which always had a good mix of ages, now I fear the worst.

 

Interesting as on the half a dozen cruises that we have done on Aurora (prior to conversion to Adult Only), whilst we have seen comparatively small numbers of younger guests, the ‘average’ age has definitely been over 65. In fact, on one cruise last year the Captain stated (at the drinks party) that the average age on the cruise was 73. Although we are ‘only’ in our 50’s, we enjoy the company of older cruisers. In fact I can only recall one cruise in recent years where the average age of passengers was younger than us - it was Britannia and the average age quoted was 46. I wasn’t clear whether the average age included the 800 children on board!

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Bennybluehat said:

I’m in my 40s and when you have been on an adult only ship and the comedian says to you his act must have been like a history lesson to you, I think that sums up what age group the entertainment was aimed at! Even an occasional break into 70s music would have been refreshing but there was nothing at all to entertain 40 somethings let alone anyone younger. I don’t want screaming kids or rowdy teens roaming around but having some well behaved youngsters would have been like a breath of fresh air. It was actually quite depressing.

On a recent Caribbean lunch we had the entertainment manager as our table host, and it was interesting to here him explain how they always try to tailor the entertainment to the age profile on each cruise, quite often suggesting changes that the guest artists might wish to consider based on the age spread.

So I can only assume that on your cruise you were very much in the minority, or the Ent Man. was not doing their job well.

[Bennybluehat]

10 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

On a recent Caribbean lunch we had the entertainment manager as our table host, and it was interesting to here him explain how they always try to tailor the entertainment to the age profile on each cruise, quite often suggesting changes that the guest artists might wish to consider based on the age spread.

So I can only assume that on your cruise you were very much in the minority, or the Ent Man. was not doing their job well.

We were very much the minority & it can’t have been a one off for Oriana because on a following cruise on Azura another comedian, Mike Doyle, described Oriana exactly the way had experienced it. This is why I worry that Aurora will now be the new Oriana.

[Millers]

Unfortunately P and O seem to think that once you get over 60 your musical taste disappears and we morph into our parents, ballads, crooners, show tunes, etc. Now there is nothing wrong with that. But at 68 I still like something more livelier, I still play in a rock and roll band.it is difficult, but I get a little fed up of hearing someone direct from the West End singing the usual easy listening stuff. However, the standard of entertainment is good and I do, in the main, enjoy them. But please, P and O, don’t assume because I am seen as ‘Over the hill’, that I want lift music all the time. As I said, before someone jumps on me, it is difficult to please everyone, and P and O have to try and hit the middle line.

[FiftyOnePlus]

14 hours ago, Bennybluehat said:

I liked Oriana as a ship, what I didn’t like was that it was an “adults only” ship which in reality means adults over the age of 65. Fine, if the most modern music you like is  from the 50s and you enjoy listening to people snore whilst in the theatre. I’ve had many cruises on Aurora which always had a good mix of ages, now I fear the worst.

 

Totally untrue.

We were recently on Oriana 28 transatlantic and there was a fantastic mix of ages, from 18 year old right up to a lady of 103 that I spoke to.

Myself, my partner, and large groups of friends are nowhere near our 60s!  LOL

[Bennybluehat]

10 minutes ago, FiftyOnePlus said:

 

Totally untrue.

We were recently on Oriana 28 transatlantic and there was a fantastic mix of ages, from 18 year old right up to a lady of 103 that I spoke to.

Myself, my partner, and large groups of friends are nowhere near our 60s!  LOL

How can you say that my experience was totally untrue? Unless you were onboard the same cruise that I was you wouldn’t know. You had a different experience to me but you were obviously weren’t on the ship the same time I was. 

[Dermotsgirl]

20 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

Interesting as on the half a dozen cruises that we have done on Aurora (prior to conversion to Adult Only), whilst we have seen comparatively small numbers of younger guests, the ‘average’ age has definitely been over 65. In fact, on one cruise last year the Captain stated (at the drinks party) that the average age on the cruise was 73. Although we are ‘only’ in our 50’s, we enjoy the company of older cruisers. In fact I can only recall one cruise in recent years where the average age of passengers was younger than us - it was Britannia and the average age quoted was 46. I wasn’t clear whether the average age included the 800 children on board!

My most recent cruise was on Aurora, and I was told that the average age was 73 for that particular cruise.  It was the USA and Canada cruise last Sept/Oct, so it may even have been the same cruise you were on.

 

As it was a longer cruise, outside of the school holidays, I would expect there to be an older crowd on board. I was 58 at the time of sailing, so I went with the knowledge I'd be one of the 'younger' passengers.

 

The entertainment on offer has to appeal to a broad range of people, and I think it's gradually starting to inch its way to some more contemporary offerings.  There was a really good Headliners show based on 80's songs, and there was another one set in the period just after the war, but with very contemporary songs from the last couple of years. I liked that show as it was something very different, but I think the majority of the passengers seemed slightly non-plussed about it ! 

[FiftyOnePlus]

7 hours ago, Bennybluehat said:

How can you say that my experience was totally untrue? Unless you were onboard the same cruise that I was you wouldn’t know. You had a different experience to me but you were obviously weren’t on the ship the same time I was. 

 

Every single adult on board was over 65?  Really?

[Britboys]

I've had many cruises on Oriana since she was made adult-only - and I am still over 7 years away from hitting 65!

[jeanlyon]

We have met many younger cruisers on Oriana on all 5 of our cruises on her.  Yes of course the main age group is older.  We do mainly longer cruises in April and October, so there wouldn't be youngsters on board anyway.  We spent a couple of lunches chatting to a group of much younger cruisers.  We thoroughly enjoyed their company and I think they did ours.