P&O Cruises - Oriana Ship Cruise Reviews

Thursday 24th May 2012

www.cruise.co.uk - Cruise Deals, Cruises & Cruise Holidays

0800 408 6200

All these P&O Cruises - Oriana Ship Cruises Reviews are written by REAL cruise passengers & we DO NOT moderate or change any of the review. You can agree or disagree by posting up your own comment. If you write your own review we will send you a Fodor's Guide to Cruising for FREE, Get Fantastic Cruise Deals From Southampton 2012

Cruise Reviews
127,234 Opinions Cruise Answers
190,853 Q&As Cruise Photos
14,371 Real Photos Cruise Videos
1,645 Real Videos Shore Excursions Our Cruise
Consultants Cruise Info
Guides Cruise Forum Get a Quote Special Offers Last Minute Cruises Luxury Cruises Tailor Made Cruise River Cruises Family Cruises Free Brochures Make a Payment

Cruise Reviews

Pando Cruises

Oriana

2008 Cruise Ships

Back

2008 cruise ships

Reviewed By: woods, ashford on 9th Sep 2008
Cruise Line: P&O Cruises	Times cruised before: 10+
Cruise Ship: Oriana	Sailed: June, 2008
Destination: Northern Europe	Age: 65+
Cabin: Inside

Although earlier this summer I was aboard Oriana this is not a review of this cruise but simply my observations after reading the various reviews of some of the ships introduced to the UK cruise market this year. Firstly Fred Olsen's Balmoral. This vessel got off to the worst of starts with the inaugural cruise being cancelled and the first couple of cruises receiving very bad reviews. Incidentally I originally booked for the inaugural cruise but later cancelled as I felt Fred Olsen had left insufficient time to complete the stretching of this vessel. This indeed proved to be the case. I am afraid the Braemar suffered the same fate when it was stretched later this summer. Since then however most reviews of these two vessels have proved positive with the majority of people satisfied with both the ships and level of service. Next we come to Cunard and the Queen Victoria which also appeared to have had some teething problems with some passengers not at all happy about the maiden voyage. Since then however most reviews have been on the positive side and until the new Queen Elizabeth enters service a worthy successor to the QE 2. RCI's Independence of the Seas appears to have entered service this Spring with an almost 100% satisfactory review rating although I notice of late some passengers have been less than complimentary. Still by enlarge RCI seemed to have got it right in spite of the large size of this vessel. Finally let us take a look at the new P&O's Ventura. This vessel has not had the best of starts. Indeed there seems to have been more negative reviews of this ship than all the other ships combined. The positive reviews seem to come from mainly first time cruisers with young families. The negative ones mainly from older people who are regular cruise passengers. To be fair to this generation most of them stated that they knew that P&O was marketing this vessel towards families with young children but were still prepared to book this ship. Unfortunately the majority said never again, some even stating that they were deserting P&O altogether. The problem appears to be P&O stating this ship to be family friendly. Unfortunately some on board in some peoples' eyes appear to have been family unfriendly. Lots of complaints about parents and staff allowing unruly children and teenagers to run amok all hours of the day and night. Some people have said that it was more like Butlins on sea. I personally think this a bit unfair as I feel Butlins management would have not tolerated this, nipped it in the bud and would have forcibly removed this element off the site. It will be interesting to see in a couple of years time when the Ventura's sister ship enters service which market P&O will be aiming for. Perhaps like White Sisters the Ventura will be family orientated and its sister ship adult only. Finally you may feel I have been rather unkind about P&O. Actually I have had more cruises aboard their ships than any other cruise line. Indeed in the next 15 months I am booked on three different P&O cruises none of which is the Ventura.
Quality of Food	n/a

Entertainment	n/a

Shore Excursions	n/a

Staff	n/a

Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities	n/a

Cabins	n/a

Overall Rating	n/a

Was this review informative to you?

Report this review

Comment by wade, cullompton (09 Sep 08 14:17) about this REVIEW

have cruised 7 times 3 star and 5 star.my view is that with so many cruise ships now for our money the cruise lines have dropped standards.island cruises and ocean village cater for one taste.crystal silversea and oceania another. it seems that p/o and ncl are in the middle and dont know which way to go.so to fill there ships they advertize cheap childfree deals in the red top press.which we all know will attract a certain type of person.i have met some very rude people on 5 star ships and some very ill mannered yobs on 3 star ships.but in the main i have met and made friends with great people on both.my point is to mix the football shirt,tattoo,bling brigade with people who are more refined just does not work.families with children should be able to have a good without traditional cruisers moaning. just as traditional cruisers should without unruly kids and drunks dominating 24/7.it will be interesting to see how the credit crunch effects the industry

Report this comment

Comment by woods, ashford (09 Sep 08 16:34) about a COMMENT by wade (09 Sep 08 14:17)

Was very interested with you comments reference my original review. I entirely agree with your view. I have also met a lot of very nice people aboard ship.You hit the nail on the head when you stated mixing different types of people on the same ship does not work.Ships nowadays are getting so big that it is becoming almost impossible to prevent this happening. Usually I have found that generally smaller ships do not get this mismatch of contrasting types. Hopefully in the future when some of the smaller vessels are due to be replaced the cruise companies will have the sense to replace them with similar size vessels and not build more mega size cruise ships.

Report this comment