
With Reuben Goossens
Cruise’n’Travel
Journalist / Cruise Reviewer
P&O Cruises
MV Oriana
2005 World Cruise Review
Brisbane -

MV Oriana seen in the Whitsunday’s on 18 February 2005
All photographs on this review are © Copyright & taken by Reuben Goossens & Mr. Hun-Eng Tan
Except where marked otherwise
Please
Note:
Cruise-Australia is a non-commercial and privately owned cruise site. The
author has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960 and is currently
semi-retired, but continues to write cruise and ship reviews and articles in
order to better to inform cruise and ship enthusiasts and provide information
for those intending a cruise in the future.
Please Note: This cruise was part of a three-month personal vacation; therefore, the author cruised at his own expense.
Venues and facility mentioned on this page have a link. These will direct you to a page containing a description and photographs of the said venue/facility. This review features 162 fine photographs of MV Oriana, covering every aspect of the ship.
At the conclusion, if you have enjoyed this review and wish to make a comment, you are welcome to email me.

Reuben Goossens
Author,
Maritime Historian and Lecturer
Her Majesty the Queen named
Oriana (2) in
Oriana
was built by Meyer-Werft of Papenburg in
On arrival at the wharf, it was
obvious that security was at a premium, giving boarding passengers a feeling of
security. The gleaming white Oriana towered above
Cabin D197 is
located starboard on Deck 8. It is perfectly located, just forward of

The authors cabin - cabin D197
This cabin, like all accommodations on board features spacious wardrobes with more than sufficient drawer space, a TV, fridge, safe, tea and coffee making facilities, a corner sofa with a round coffee table, a writing desk with chair and a bathroom with shower (being my preferred option). This, together with its décor made it a good home away from home for the next 41 nights.
Oriana’s vast variety of public rooms provided the perfect venue to suit your mood and activity. There is the quiet ambience of the champagne and caviar bar Anderson’s.

The elegant Curzon Room is the venue for the regular classical concerts and on various days the art auctions. Crows Nest, set atop the ship, is the room with a view over the bow. During the day, Crows Nest is popular room for reading morning tea, whilst a night, music will fill the room from its portside bandstand.

Tiffany’s Chocolate and Espresso bar
Other venues are the
popular chocolate and espresso bar, Tiffany’s atop the four level Atrium, the ships Pub, Lords
Tavern, Harlequins Night Club, Monte Carlo
Club, catering for those who like to
play the tables, Jackpot’s has ample
slots machines. Crichton’s is the ever busy Card Room; the Library has a vast number of books, videos and
Oriana has two showrooms both are located on Promenade Deck. Aft is the Pacific Lounge, an intimate venue offering a host of cabarets, featuring vocalists, comedians and magicians. Forward is the magnificent Theatre Royal being the venue of the “Oriana Theatre Company” Broadway style productions. The theatre is an impressive room, however, air-conditioning in this room is quite inadequate and it can become quite warm and uncomfortable, especially on the frequent formal nights. Theatre Royal is also used for concerts and stage plays. One night we enjoyed a hilarious play featuring guest actor Sue Hodge, who played Mimi in the TV comedy “Allo Allo.”
Having been on many cruises, I did feel that some of the “Oriana Theatre Company” on this particular cruise did look and sounded somewhat inexperienced. I found that their shows lacked panache and I have seen better on previous voyages.

Theatre Royal
During our 42 day cruise we were entertained by some top class cabarets, shows and concerts. We particularly enjoyed the classical concerts features in both the Curzon Room and Pacific Lounge. These included the brilliant classical guitarists, Sam Piha and Martin Vishnick, fine pianists David McArthur and Allan Schiller and the superb “Classical Connections,” being a five member Opera Company.

“Classical Connections” Opera Company in the Pacific Lounge
Food was simply excellent, well presented, combined with excellent service. However, the buffet (the Conservatory) tends to be very crowded and the food is usually only just warm. For me it was a place to avoid at all costs. Although an attractive venue, the atmosphere and food was very average.
Décor in both the Peninsular and Oriental Restaurants was pleasing. Tables varied from two to eight seats. We dinned in the spacious Oriental Restaurant, which has large windows on three sides of the room, giving magnificent ocean vistas. However, frequently we experienced excessive vibration and engine noise, which was, to say the least, extremely annoying. The Peninsular Restaurant is by far the better option! We had the option to move to the Peninsular Restaurant, however, we were blessed with four of the best dinning companions you could wish for - George and Annette, George and Eileen, you “are simply the best!”

Peninsular Restaurant
Other dinning venues are as follows. The excellent Alfresco Café forward starboard side on Deck 12 is the twenty-four hour café. Menus change throughout the day. The floor to ceiling windows gives this compact room a spacious feel. Tiffany’s, located on D Deck, is the popular chocolate and espresso bar. However, both a light breakfast and lunch are served here in a delightfully casual and relaxed atmosphere. At nights there are two alternative dinning venues, Le Jardin Bistro, located on the port side of the Conservatory, and the outdoor Terrace Grill. Both have a cover charge of £4.75.
P&O has obviously worked hard to make the cruise experience on any of their ships a good one. Service on board was provided by British, Indian and Filipino crew who were always at the ready with a friendly smile. Bar and restaurant stewards soon came to know your likes, as well as your preferred drinks. The combination of an excellent ship, excellent accommodations, the vast variety of public rooms, cuisine, entertainment, three pools, five Jacuzzis and the vast amount of deck space, made the cruise generally a pleasurable one. I have given our cruise experience 8 out of 10.
The main complaint by most non
English, Irish, Scottish passengers is always in relation the many formal
nights. These are held almost every third/fourth night. Other nights were
equally divided between informal and casual dress. However, informal still
means a collar and tie. Air-Conditioning on board tended to be more suited to
the English passengers, who preferred a warmer climate, which also means that
the Theatre Royal, Pacific Showroom, and the Crows Nest tends to be far too
warm, especially during formal nights or in a collar and tie, etc. In addition,
in the Restaurants, the Theatre,
Oriana is without doubt a wonderful ship, this
combined with excellent the service she is a ship to be recommended. I do hope
P&O will wisely treat future world cruises as truly International cruises,
suitable for all nationalities, for lets face it, they do heavily market this
cruise both in

The author in his favourite lounge - Crows Nest
The
author previously enjoyed a good number of world voyages (sectors) on SS
Canberra, MV Aurora and MV Arcadia (ex Star Princess). The author sailed many
times between
Oriana’s Specifications
Gross tonnage 69,153 tons
Length 260 metres (853 feet)
Breadth 32.2 metres (106 feet)
Draught 7.9 metres (26 feet)
Service speed 24 knots
Auxiliary Engines 4x
Propellers 2 - each with 4 blades and a diameter of 5.8m (19 feet)
Bow thrusters 3 - each of 1,500 KW (2,000 horse power)
Stern thrusters 1 - of 1,500 KW (2,000 horse power)
Rudders 2 - with a maximum angle of 45° for improved manoeuvring performance
Stabilisers 2 x Brown Bros folding fin, each 21m2 (226 sq feet)
Passengers 1,810
Passenger cabins 914 - 594 outside (118 with balconies) including 8 Suites, 16 mini-suites, 8 designed for disabled passengers - 320 inside
Crew 794. Officers British
Passenger decks 10
All photographs in this review are © Copyright & taken by Reuben Goossens & Mr. Hun-Eng Tan
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Please
Note:
Cruise-Australia is a non-commercial and privately owned cruise site. The
author has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960 and is currently
semi-retired, but continues to write cruise and ship reviews and articles in
order to better to inform cruise and ship enthusiasts and provide information
for those intending a cruise in the future.
However, if you are
interested in a cruise, I am happy to refer you to a dedicated cruise agent in
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