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Panama Canal - a must see experience! |
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Reviewed By: Morley, Banbury on 8th Feb 2010
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| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Oriana |
Sailed:
January,
2010 |
| Destination: Panama Canal |
Age: 26-35 |
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We were on a 36 night cruise on P&O's Oriana and overall we thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately our trip was cut short due to being called back to work so had to fly back home from Jamaica - definitely an experience, more later on! We were lucky we only missed Antigua, Tortola and Madeira, which we have been to before and we missed the transatlantic stage.
The ship was good and never over crowded, even on the many sea days. The joys of having a proper Promenade deck where many people can sit. The only downside of the ship is no covered swimming pool for the transatlantic crossing, but I guess this comes with the age of the ship and what you gain in deck space, you loose in modern conveniences!
The entertainment was mediocre and we were not the most impressed with the theatre company onboard. Shows were not the best and certainly didn't live up to P&O's normal standard. Hopefully this has just been a glip and will be different when we go on Ventura in April around the Med. We also found unless you like music recitals, there was only one item of entertainment a night so by 9.30 there was very little going on. The external comedians and entertainers were good however.
We also like the odd flutter in the casino but found the casino was far too small with no atmosphere, unlike on Princess ships.
There were a few niggles as above, but the food and the restaurant staff were fantastic, our cabin steward was also very good and never saw him, and room was kept spotless. The captain was also fantastic, he was always around the ship, he would always join the officer of the watch on the noon announcement and was always very jovial - The most we have seen and heard from any captain which was a nice touch. The cruise entertainment staff were also very good and had many enjoyable sail-away parties etc and within the first week they had remembered our names as we went to many of the quizzes etc which they organised. We had a small outbreak of norovirus on board but this did not affect the service level and we were fortunate not to be affected.
The itinerary was fantastic going to many parts of the Carib which you do not normally go to on the shorter fly cruises and the Panama Canal is a definate must. The excitement was even greater as we had Arcadia, alongside us in the canal and the locks, a lot of fun, waving and banter between the ships!
Overall a fantastic holiday and would definitely do a longer cruise again, hopefully without being called back to work!!
In regards to Jamaica, we had to fly from Kingston and we were docked at Montego Bay. We could not get a flight until the following day so we decided to hire a car and drive between the two - about 120miles. The roads were actually not that bad and it was nice to venture away from the tourist trail and see what we wanted. Kingston was definitely an experience. The main road through Kingston went from 3 lanes each way to a narrow 2 way street straight after a roundabout and it was market day so lots of vans and bins at side of road. Very thin, very narrow and some very near misses. The other half couldn’t watch in some places as it was so thin!
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Excellent - we ate in The Conservatory of Al Fresco for breakfast and lunch. We were on 1st sitting in the Peninsula restaurant. | | Entertainment |  |
| The theatre company were not up to the usual high standard of P&O. The external entertainers were very good however. | | Shore Excursions | |
| Two Reef Snorkel - Cozumel. Excellent with some brilliant tour guides! Def recommend - saw plenty of fish etc. All other islands we did our own thing as the tours are generally very expensive, which unfortunately is a problem with all cruise lines. | | Staff | |
| All staff were fantastic. Chris and Bishal, our waiters at dinner were fantastic, very quick and efficient. Bishal was always full of fun and giggles, even when I ordered 3 main courses one day - the loveliest fajitas I have had in a long time! Emma from the entertainment staff was also very good! | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
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| Daytime activity program was very good. Evenings could have been improved. Its ashame one of the pools wasn't covered. | | Cabins | |
| We had an inside cabin on F deck (F190) Ideal size for what we needed. We spend very little time in the cabin, but was a good size with plenty of wardrobe hanging space and also lots of drawers. | | Overall Rating | |
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