Ports

Vigo, Spain - Sept. 5, '00 - 79° and sunny
Vigo is a great seaport built on and around the slopes of Monte de Castro. It overlooks Vigo Bay, one of the world's great natural harbours. At 32 km long by 5 km wide, with very deep water, it has been said that it is large enough to hold the combined fleets of all the world! At the mouth of the estuary, the rocky and picturesque Cies Islands shelter the bay from Atlantic gales.

As the clocks were moved forward one hour, it meant that at 7am our entry into Vigo Harbour was in darkness, but I could see the bright headlights of the Practicos (Pilot) approaching the ship. We barely stopped as the pilot got on board, and we were soon docked and alongside the pier starboard side in, and as our cabin was on this side, we had a good view of the city. It is an easy walk to the start of the shopping area, but as Vigo sits on a hill, it means there are a lot of steep climbs, so it may not be suitable for anyone with walking difficulties.

About 30 minutes before the ship's departure, a small group of musicians dressed in local costumes appeared on the quayside to play and entertain the passengers as we left. As the ship began to prepare to slip its moorings they left, but one solitary player whose instrument was a type of pipes appeared from nowhere and started playing "When the Saints" and held his hand out, and it was not long before the passengers were throwing pesetas onto the quay for him. I do not think he belonged to the original group, but was a rogue player who had thought of this enterprising idea.

At 6pm, Oriana let go her lines and moved ahead off her berth, swinging her bow to port before following reciprocal courses back out towards the pilot station and the Atlantic Ocean. At 6:30pm the pilot disembarked and then Oriana took a southerly heading for Lisbon, 246.4 nautical miles away at an average speed of 18.6 knots.

Lisbon, Portugal - Sept. 6, '00 - 90° and sunny
We arrived in Lisbon at 7am to the most wonderful sunrise -- as the ship was heading towards the Suspension Bridge, the dark red globe of the sun appeared on the horizon, quite a spectacular sight. On the approach to the port we passed by the Belem Tower and the monument to Henry the Navigator. High on the hill overlooking Lisbon stood the colossal statue of Christ the King, similar to the statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

We took the "Scenic Southern Hills and Tagus Bridges" tour at £22.00 per person. We drove over the River Tagus on the 25th April Bridge, 230 feet above the water and the second largest suspension bridge in Europe. We took a photo stop opportunity at the statue of Christ the King and a view over the city of Lisbon. We carried on through the Serra da Arrabida mountain range with some twisting and turning roads and drops into the ocean -- not for those with vertigo, but it did offer some magnificent views of an unspoilt beach of almost 7 miles in length. Our next stop was the town of Setubal, the third largest port in Portugal, which has a population of 100,000. A lot of street repair work was being done, so the effect of the narrow streets and old buildings was spoiled somewhat.

On the return drive we crossed the recently inaugurated Vasco de Gama Bridge, which is currently the longest in Europe and the third largest in the world at a length of 9 miles. This tour was worth taking, but the air conditioning in the coaches could not cope with the extreme heat.

Lorient, France - Sept. 9, '00 - 75° and sunny
Oriana silently crept by the Passe de L'ouest at 6:30am for the five-mile northerly river passage to the berth amid another beautiful red sunrise. The entrance to the harbour is quite narrow and as we passed some fortification, I noticed a tugboat coming close behind our stern -- I am not sure if this was to steady her as she docked or not. We docked in an industrial port and were transferred by shuttle bus into town. We intended to take a tour to Vannes, but did not notice that the tour bookings closed two days before instead of one, so we missed out. Therefore, we decided to take the free shuttle bus to town and make a few purchases instead.

Lorient, an important U-boat base in WW2, was bombed extensively and the town left in ruins, so that means there are no buildings of great historical antiquity. The sea remains the dominant influence in the life of the town -- with commercial and fishing harbours, marina, and a military port. It is also the gateway to some of the most attractive places in Brittany.

Guernsey, Channel Islands - Sept. 9, '00 - 75°
At 7am, the pilot joined us and Oriana turned to the north into the approach channel for St. Peter Port. By 7:45 the continuous tender service commenced.

Being familiar with the Channel Islands and the Island of Jersey, this turned out to be my favourite port, as Guernsey was just a smaller version of Jersey where we spent our honeymoon, so it brought back many fond memories. There was a person from the Guernsey Tourist Board handing out tourist information as we got off the tender, so we enquired as to the nearest Car Hire office. It was only 10 minutes' walk away, and by 9am we were on our way around the beautiful island of Guernsey. Nothing could have been simpler: it cost £28.00 for the day, including insurance and petrol. It was a brand new car with only 20 miles on the clock and came complete with air conditioning which, considering the temperature, was greatly appreciated.

I was delighted to see that honesty boxes were still around in Guernsey. Many cottages, farms and small holdings had flowers, tomatoes, melons, or strawberries placed out in front of their homes, with boxes beside them for placing the money in. It showed that honesty still prevailed in this small island community.

There is a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, which is logical considering the narrowness of some of the roads. The freedom of having a car meant that we could stop off at any of the beautiful bays and beaches and could go to any of the many attractions on the island when we wished. During the day, we returned to St. Peter Port to check it out; there were some good bargains to be had there with jewelry, watches, etc., and most passengers were pretty well laden down on the return tenders.

At 6pm, Oriana weighed anchor and with all tenders recovered made her way out of the bay. She then turned to the north once clear of Sark, and headed up towards the Alderney race and the English Channel, crossing the busy traffic lanes in the late evening on her short passage to Southampton.

Food

The two restaurants on Oriana, the Peninsular and Oriental, were both quite stunning rooms, the Oriental situated aft, and the Peninsular midships.

Catering to British tastes, we found the food to be good, not haute cuisine but with generous portions during dinner. There were four different vegetables silver-served along with your entrée. P&O always serves its lobster as Lobster Thermidor, but I prefer it grilled and served with melted butter, so on speaking with the Head Waiter, it was arranged that it would be served as I preferred it, and it was delicious. However if you see "Tarte a l'Oignon" (a light Onion Tart with Emmenthal Cheese) on the menu avoid it: the pastry chef must have had a bad night, as you would have needed a pickaxe to cut through it. Other than that, there was nothing we could have complained about. There were a few deliciously memorable desserts, and generally we were extremely satisfied with the food.

The dinner menus are printed daily with the date on them, and some are adorned with artwork of previous P&O ships. They are presented to you on the last evening of the cruise by your waiter -- a nice memento to keep.

Buffet Dining
The food in the buffet dining area was of a good selection and quality, and hot food was always hot. There were several hot dishes each day at lunch and a wide variety of salads, cold cuts, etc., and always one hot sweet of the day, as well as the usual desserts. The famous P&O curries appeared daily on the menu, and one evening there was an Indian Buffet dinner in the Conservatory dining area.

There was also a separate Pizzeria restaurant serving various type pizzas and a salad buffet. Several days there were themed buffets on deck, as well as all other dining options, which made for a very wide variety of food being served.

Entertainment

There were no fewer than eight different bands and groups performing around the ship, as well as the Stadium Theatre Company whose review-type shows with beautiful costumes were well received. The tribute to Freddy Mercury show was performed in the Pacific Show Lounge, but we felt the show on Aurora had more atmosphere and excitement. But it was nice to see it done once again.

The comedian was John Martin from Liverpool, who was excellent. His ability to ad lib was tremendous; one night after the show had commenced, people kept arriving in the theatre -- this continued for 10 minutes or more. He had the lights put on and he proceeded to continually barrage them until they stopped coming -- it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I would not hesitate to see this man again and again.

Various days the band "Natural High" played at the Riviera Pool and one day they performed "I'm the Music Man - What Can I Play?" and it was most amusing to watch most adults (not all) completely let their inhibitions fly in the breeze and get really into the song. In fact, there was one guy on the top deck overlooking the pool who was so into the actions that his wife walked off and left him. I think she was bit embarrassed when it came to playing the Bagpipes -- he launched into a full version of the Highland Fling, but this made for a great time by all who joined in, myself included.

There was the usual variety of events throughout the day, including quizzes, and the one that we participated in was obviously attended by the regular experts each day. But I noticed when the toting up was done and it was won by the same team that had won the previous day, one point was deducted from them to give the others a chance, so it was a draw, which I thought was a very fair way of dealing with the teams who obviously are so good that they would win nearly every quiz they entered.

There was a £40,000 Lotto special night; five tickets cost £10 with an extra ticket thrown in for free. We did not attend this and I never did hear if anyone won the jackpot.

Tiffany Court Bar/Lounge

Some Observations

P&O is laid back about trying to extract more money from the passenger. I did not see any cocktails in fancy P&O glasses being pushed; the photographers did come round during dinner, but disappeared quietly if you said no; there were no pirates accosting you as you left the dining room; glasses of champagne were offered at a cost on sailaway from Southampton, but they were not being pushed strongly; a large bottle of mineral water was in the cabin on arrival and when it hadn't been used by the next morning, it was removed without ceremony. There are no boxes of sample menus being charged at $6 -- the menus for the cruise are presented free of charge, as I mentioned above.

There was the usual Inch of Gold and Watch sale, but they were only a few tables outside the shopping area and were pretty unobtrusive. There were no announcements other than the noon announcement from the Officer of the Watch, and on entering and leaving port, some disembarkation/embarkation details. There were announcements to the crew when they were doing safety drills on a port day -- these are drills that happen on most ships that I have been on.

At the Captain's Welcome Aboard cocktail party we attended, the drinks flowed freely with none of your watered-down cocktails being offered. There was a good selection of spirits and wines, and these were offered again and again. In fact, we were amused when we overheard a conversation between two elderly gentlemen sitting at the pool: one said that he could down five whiskies during the cocktail party -- I would liked to have been at his table for dinner.

Return & Disembarkation

I was looking forward to seeing the QE2 when we arrived in Southampton, as she was beginning a transatlantic crossing later in the day. So was Oriana -- the first transatlantic for P&O in almost 30 years, but it was not to be. Having just got to bed at around 2am, the fog horn was soon being sounded; on arrival at Southampton we could see nothing other than the quay below. I later found out that QE2 was late into port, but Oriana was smack on time, fog or no fog.

Disembarkation was done by colour (like on other cruise lines). We were given the third-to-be-called colour, but like on Aurora, a visit to the Purser's desk explaining we had an 8-9 hour drive in front of us got us changed to the first colour called -- this was met with a smile and "No problem, madam." We were in our car by 9 am and on our way home. Driving out of the port, I wanted a last lingering look at Oriana, but she was still shrouded in fog.

We enjoyed our cruise on Oriana, but for some reason or other we preferred Aurora. I would sail on either of them again in a heartbeat.